FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2020
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robin Elliott
robin@fingerlakesreuse.org
Ribbon-Cutting Event to Celebrate
ReUse Caboose & Training Center
{Ithaca, New York, December 14, 2020} – Finger Lakes ReUse will commemorate the opening of the ReUse Caboose & Training Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in partnership with the City of Ithaca and the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. The dedication will take place on Wednesday, December 16th, 2020 at 10:00 am.
The ReUse Caboose, located at 700 W. Buffalo St., on the north side of the building in Greenstar’s former “The Space” (entrance at the intersection of Fulton St/Route 13S at Court St, just over the railroad tracks), is ReUse’s newest retail location, now open daily.
With impacts from the pandemic acutely felt throughout our communities, Finger Lakes ReUse is working to provide relief in the form of affordable and free access to materials, living-wage jobs, job training, and career-building opportunities.
The ReUse Caboose is part of a pilot ReUse Warehouse and Training Center offering combined virtual and hands-on instruction for job skills training, in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension and led by Dr. Aloja Airewele.
“Through this expansion, Finger Lakes ReUse is creating critical, paid job training opportunities for local people in need at a time when city residents need additional support and access to affordable goods,” City of Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick said.
Finger Lakes ReUse signed the temporary in August, in order to provide much-needed space for materials and immediate paid job training opportunities in direct response to rising community needs due to COVID-19. This pilot Training Center program is generously supported by Tompkins County, Park Foundation, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Triad Foundation, Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County, and a generous Anonymous Donor.
With this Training Center, ReUse will be able to provide opportunities for skill-building and developing career pathways for employment in fields like green energy. Employment and training experiences at ReUse locations, including the pilot ReUse Warehouse & Training Center, are geared toward creating customized, supportive spaces for each individual who enters the ReSET job training program (established March 2013). Finger Lakes ReUse is excited to formally partner with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Energy Warriors program led by Dr. Aloja Airewele, enhancing ReUse’s current ReSET Job Training program with modules such as “Raising Your Personal Value” and “Mental Toughness Bootcamp.”
“Reuse and material management have powerful mitigating impacts on climate change, from avoided extraction, transport and production to extending the embodied energy in the life-cycle of any given product,” Finger Lakes ReUse Executive Director Diane Cohen said. “But locally the opportunities for skill-building, gaining confidence, and engaging meaningfully with purpose through reuse can offer self-empowered transformation and healing.”
The ReUse Caboose is now open daily at this same location, 10 AM – 6 PM. A wide variety of local reused materials are available there at affordable prices ls can be purchased, including building materials, clothing, textiles, media, household items, and lighting with new items added daily. Parking for The ReUse Caboose is located at the North Fulton and Court Street entrance, just across the train tracks. Purchases support Finger Lakes ReUse’s waste diversion efforts as well as their job training and community support programs.
About Finger Lakes ReUse
Finger Lakes ReUse is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization operating ReUse Centers in an effort to increase the reuse of materials, provide job training opportunities, create living-wage jobs; improve the local standard of living, and teach repair and reuse skills. In the course of achieving these goals, ReUse builds community, strengthens the local economy, and protects the environment by redirecting materials away from landfills and into productive reuse. For more information, visit www.ithacareuse.org
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