Category Archives: Recycling

Giving Hope to Your Neighbors… It’s in the Bag

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We are so excited to share that The Hope Center at Hagerstown Rescue Mission is nowMARTINSBagAngle-294x300 participating in the Martin’s Giving Tag Program, which is designed to make it easy for customers of Martin’s stores to contribute to the local community while supporting the environment.

This opportunity can be taken advantage of at any Martin’s store. All you have to do is purchase a $2.50 reusable Bags 4 My Cause Bag, follow the instructions on the attached Giving Tag and The Hope Center will receive a $1 donation!

It’s really that simple! Just purchase the high quality reusable bag and register it within 7 days of purchase for The Hope Center to receive the donation. Then fill your bag with all the great products Martin’s has to offer!

Please help us by spreading the word to your friends, family, coworkers, church group, civic club and all your contacts on social media.

To learn more about Martin’s or find a store please visit http://www.martinsfoods.com.

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One Major Breakdown, Multiple Headaches & Eight Good Samaritans

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In May the baler in our Recycling Program broke down and was inoperable for approximately 3 weeks. While the baler was broke down our Recycling Center got backed up with piles of cardboard that we were unable to bale and truck away.

But then God sent a few good Samaritans, or angels even, to help us get back on track. But before we get to that act of kindness, maybe we should get you up to speed on what exactly our Recycling Center does.

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Most of you know all about the various ministries, programs and services at The Hope Center. But one area that many of you might not be as familiar with – or never even knew existed – is our Recycling Center.

Our Recycling Center is open M-F from 9am – 2pm (closed for lunch 11:30-12:30) and Saturday 9am – 11:30am. Our Recycling Center is manned by one of our Foundations Life Recovery program residents who is assigned to the baling room area of our Recycling Center as a part of the work assignment in the rehabilitation program. The program men who work the baling room are trained to operate the baler and also gain certification to operate a forklift.

The job of the Recycling Center attendant is to receive donations of cardboard; break down boxes; fill baler with the flattened cardboard; bale the cardboard and wrap with baling wires; and finally unload and stack the bales. At 33-36 bales we schedule a truck to pick them up.

In addition to recycling cardboard we also recycle old clothing and rags. The process for baling clothing is the same as cardboard. Now, you may be wondering what clothing ends up in the Recycling Center – good question! Any clothing that we are not able to sell in our Thrift Stores or donate to locals or missions agencies is sent to the baling room to be recycled into something new.  While we do recycle clothing and rags, we recycle much more cardboard because we try to find as many uses for clothing as possible before recycling it.

The Recycling Center is an important, but generally invisible, part of our ministry. So the unfortunate break down of our baler caused quite a few headaches.

And that’s when God sent Terry Izer to help! Terry is the Maintenance Service Manager,  Hagerstown Regional Maintenance of the Maryland Department of Public Safety. But he’s also the husband of Aimee, the manager of our Thrift Stores and Sorting Department at The Hope Center.

Terry is basically a jack of all trades and a master of them all! On top of his busy work schedule and his personal hobbies and family life, Terry lends a helping hand around The Hope Center whenever there’s a need. And this time we had a desperate need that Terry was just the man for. Terry gave of his time to volunteer to help repair our baler.

Even though Terry worked his magic and repaired our baler, the backup of cardboard was already an overwhelming job for our one worker. So Terry put the word out to some of his employees that help was needed to bale up the cardboard that had piled up.

After working their 7am – 3pm shift on Thursday, June 6th, six of his men came in to help get the job done! What a huge blessing these men were to The Hope Center!

We want to thank Steve Staley & Andy Koontz, welders who helped repair the baler, Bob Stine, Randy Mills, Mark Thomas, Marty Kending, Matt Reel, and of course, Terry Izer for all their help and their volunteering spirit!

 

It’s Finally Time for Some Spring Cleaning!

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For a time it seemed like winter would never end! But those April showers helped to bring May flowers and some warmer weather. It’s always such a joy to watch the earth come back to life and to hear all the birds singing and enjoying the warmer temperatures.

And with the arrival of spring comes the annual tradition: spring cleaning. As you start to go through your house, room by room, getting rid of unnecessary items, please keep DSC_0805us in mind! With two Thrift Stores (Hagerstown & Chambersburg), we always welcome your gently used clothing, shoes, furniture, jewelry, housewares, and more. Sales generated in our Thrift Stores help to underwrite the cost of all of our programs and services so that we can continue to provide for our neighbors in need at no cost to them or the taxpayer.

If you are interested in donating various items to The Hope Center, here is some info you should know:

Furniture – accepted at the rear of the Thrift Store (central parking lot off of Church St) from 9AM – 4:30PM Monday – Saturday. Please do not leave items on the dock unattended, especially after business hours.

Furniture Items Accepted– beds (frames, headboards, footboards, mattresses* & box springs), couches, upholstered* chairs, dining tables and chairs, small tables (end tables & coffee tables), desks and chairs and dressers. We also accept rugs, bicycles, exercise equipment, wheelchairs and other handicap equipment.
*We cannot accept mattresses or upholstered furniture that is torn, stained or covered in pet hair.

DSC_0888Clothing & Miscellaneous – items accepted at the rear of the parking lot Monday – Saturday from approximately 8:30AM – 4:30PM (between 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM there is no assistance to unload vehicle. You may still drop off items but if you require assistance please come before or after.) Please do not leave items unattended on the dock after business hours.

Items NOT Accepted– wet/soiled clothing, computers, floor model televisions (we do take flat screen TV’s as long as they work), floor model stereos, office telephones (multiple line phones) refrigerators and freezers, washers and dryers, dishwashers, stoves, sinks and toilets, large wooden or metal desks (office), upright pianos, large organs, cribs & car seats (due to government regulations for resale), waterbed mattresses or frames and used ceiling/electric fixtures.

We accept corrugated cardboard at our Baling Facility Monday – Friday from 8:30AM – 11:30AM and 12:30 PM-1:30PM and on Saturday from 8:30AM – 11:30AM.

If you have items to donate that are not listed or you have questions about certain items, please call 301.739.1165 or email hagerstownrescue@verizon.net. We do have a truck that can pick-up your items. Each day our truck covers a specific area of town. If you’d like to schedule a pick-up, please call 301.739.1165 to get more details. You can quickly learn more about donating your gently used items here: https://www.hagerstownhopecenter.com/in-kind-gifts

Also, you can get a receipt for tax purposes by making a list of items donated. Please remember to put your name & address on the list!! Your list can be turned in at the Thrift Store or you can get a form to fill out in the Thrift Store. You will receive your tax-deductible receipt by mail in two to three weeks.

Thank you so much for your generous donations to The Hope Center! These items will help families and individuals in your community in many different ways. Go to http://www.hagerstownhopecenter.com to learn more about all the various programs and services we provide to people in need in our area.

Winter Weather Closures: Feb 5, 2018

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Due to inclement weather today, February 5th, 2018, the following will be closed:

  • Chambersburg Thrift Store
  • Donation Drop Dock in Hagerstown
  • Recycling Center in Hagerstown

UPDATE: Our Hagerstown Thrift Store is opening today at 10:30am.

The following is open and operating on regular schedule:

  • Soup Line (doors open at 12:45pm)
  • Overnight (homeless) Shelter

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at 301.739.1165 or hagerstownrescue@verizon.net.

Please be careful in this icy weather! And have a great Monday!

RTR Pirate PrincessAnd if the snow, ice, and cold have got you ready for spring then why not take some time to register for our annual Rock the Run 5k: Pirates vs Princess! Go to http://www.rocktherunhagerstown.com to register for only $20 right now! Proceeds from the 5k go towards our overnight shelter and food programs including the upcoming and much needed refurbishment and expansion of our dining room and kitchen. Invite family and friends to join you in April at Fairgrounds Park! Go to http://www.rocktherunhagertown.com to learn more.

Recycling Update

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Effective Immediately:

Recycle EarthWe’re sorry to say that we can no longer accept newspapers for recycling. We apologize for any issues this may cause.

We do still accept cardboard and rags for recycling. If you have any questions or would like to know more about our recycling program please call 301.739.1165 or email hagerstownrescue@verizon.net.

Thank you.

Let’s Recycle Together!

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At The Hope Center, we are all about recycling and reusing products to save money and protect God’s creation. We have a recycling program that works with cardboard, paper, and rags. Sales of this recyclable material help underwrite the cost of our many programs and ministries, but it also keeps this items from becoming trash in our ever growing dumps.

And now we need you to help us with a little recycling. You know all those plastic bags you stuff full of groceries and other items at your favorite stores, well, we need them.

Our Thrift Stores are in desperate need of those plastic bags!

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We reuse your used plastic bags for shoppers in our Thrift Stores. Using these bags helps us keep our costs down by not purchasing new bags and it keeps new plastic bags from becoming trash.

If you have piles of plastic bags and don’t really know what to do with them, donate them! We’ll use them. And we’ll urge our shoppers to donate them back to us to be reused again and again.

As you go shopping this weekend, collect up your bags and drop them by our offices or our thrift stores instead of throwing them out.

This is a very small way to help in a big way!

To donate your used plastic bags, please call 301.739.1165, email hagerstownrescue@verizon.net or just drop them off at our Thrift Stores in Hagerstown & Chambersburg or at our Administrative Office in Hagerstown. Directions and hours are listed below.

Thank you for helping us!

The Hagerstown Thrift Store is located on the corner of Walnut & Church Streets with parking in our central lot off of Church Street. The Hagerstown Thrift Store is open M-Sat 9am – 5pm.

The Chambersburg Thrift Store is located at 64 S. Main Street with metered street parking and also parking in the rear. The Chambersburg Thrift Store is open M-Sat from 9am – 4pm.

Our Administrative Office is located on our main campus across our parking lot from the thrift store on Church Street between Walnut and Prospect Streets. Our office is open M – F from 8:30am – 4:30pm.

Happy Earth Day!

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“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:31a

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Today is the day that America, and the rest of the world, focuses on this incredible planet that we live on.

While some of the focus is spent worshiping the creation, as Christians we can celebrate Earth Day by worshiping the Creator.

Celebrating Earth Day is a wonderful opportunity to remind our children, friends and community about how beautifully, wonderfully and intricately the earth was created.

With each flower that blooms, each bird that chirps, each river that flows, and each web that’s spun, God has His hand in every delicate detail of this fascinating planet.

And when we look at the complexity of every life form on this planet, and the delicate nature of this incredible ecosystem, we must recognize the fact that it was designed so brilliantly and done so with such care and love.

Because of the love that God put into His creation, we as humans, and especially followers of Christ, must do our best to preserve and protect His creation.

Even at The Hope Center, we are helping to protect God’s creation by recycling clothing, shoes, purses, metal, paper and cardboard. By recycling these materials, we are protecting the unnecessary demolition of forests while also saving valuable land from being turned into trash dumps.

Recycled bales of cardboard weigh, on average, 850-1100 pounds. We recycle approximately 36 bales every 2 months. Bales of clothing weigh, on average, 900-1200 pounds. We recycle approximately 39 bales every 3 months.

Clothing is sent to Third World nations to be handed out by missions groups and humanitarian organizations to help provide the basic of physical needs to people who just don’t have the ability to clothe themselves.

It’s important that we worship our creative God by protecting, as best we can, this wonderful creation that He gave us dominion over.

So take some time to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation today.  Look up at the sun, stop to smell the beautiful flowers in bloom, walk through the green grass and pause to thank the Creator for such an elaborate and brilliantly designed world for us to enjoy! And remember that each animal, insect, tree and flower and everything else that you see has been spoken into existance by the same God that knows you inside & out and loves you more than you can imagine!

Closure Announcement

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Our Thrift Store in Hagerstown will be closed today. The store will re-open at 9am tomorrow morning.

Our Thrift Store in Chambersburg is open today until 4:30pm.

All other services at The Hope Center in Hagerstown are open today, including our donation center. Our Food Bank will open today at noon.

If you have any questions, please call 301.739.1165. Thank you and have a great day!

Celebrate God’s Creation!

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Happy Earth Day!

Some people may be surprised to see us celebrating Earth Day. But as Christians, each day should be a celebration of the wonderful world that God created!

Just take a few moments and slow down your daily routine to really look around at the beauty of the creation. Stop to watch the bees work in the gardens. Take a minute to listen to the birds sing. Actually stop and smell the roses.

Each living and non-living thing on this planet was crafted and created with care by our most marvelous and creative God! Think about how wonderful earth really is. From north to south, east to west, God has made a vast world full of different climates, beautiful and varied environments, spectacular species of animals and vibrant human cultures to compliment!

Each day on planet earth is another day to just stop and recognize God’s infinite creativity and splendor. And when you look around and see all that is beautiful in this broken world, remember that He is creating another world that is perfect beyond our imagination!

And as you take the time to admire the plush, green grass, the pink & purple blossoms and soak in the warmth of the sun, remember to also protect His creation. We can all do our part to worship God the Creator by taking care of His creation!

At The Hope Center, we’ve been a recycling facility in Hagerstown for many years. While this is an extra form of income to help fund the many ministries, this is also our way as Christians to be good stewards of this magnificent world that God gave us!

We recycle cardboard, newspaper and clothing in our Baling & Recycling Center. But we’ve also started recycling plastics and aluminum in our other facilities.

Taking care of the earth is not about worshiping the trees or “mother nature”. It’s about showing respect to God for His creation. He gave us dominion over this planet and with that power comes the responsibility to use the resources to our advantage and also take care of the earth to give our children and grandchildren a healthy, beautiful place to live in the future.

God created the earth to be a habitat for life (Isaiah 45:18). We have a responsibility to God to be good stewards of the earth He entrusted to us. We cannot exploit the earth’s resources in greed and technological ambition, nor must we care for the environment more than we care for God’s most precious creation, people.

We must also be careful not to neglect the needs of our fellow man. God called us to help each other. While He loves all of His creation, the most important to Him is mankind. After all, we were made in His image (Genesis 1:26). The most precious of all of God’s creation was “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14).

So take some time to thank God today for the air that you breathe. Thank Him for the wonderful color display that He gives us each spring. Thank Him for the resources of this planet that He created so that we could have an abundant life. And be sure to do your part to keep the earth clean and leave it a better place so that the future generations can see how magnificent God is through His creation!