Community Forklift’s work salvaging homebuilding resources and offering them at no cost to local residents in need was highlighted in a recent NBC 4 news segment.
The Edmonston nonprofit, at 4671 Tanglewood Drive, was selected last year by NBC 4/Telemundo 44 for a $50,000 Project Innovation grant to support its Home Essentials Program that provides reusable building materials, appliances and furniture to low-income residents for free. Since 2011, Community Forklift has provided more than $150,000 worth of home-improvement materials to area residents in need.
NBC 4’s “Your Sunday” host Pat Lawson Muse interviewed CEO Nancy Meyer, building materials pricing coordinator Nehemiah Davis and project coordinator Chris Melendez.
They explained that Community Forklift donations come from homeowners who are doing remodeling projects as well as contractors who have surplus material after a construction project, which are either dropped off or picked up by its two trucks.
The construction materials, furniture and appliances are then sold at Community Forklift’s warehouse or donated to people in need.
“One case was a family who needed a working stove who had a number of foster children,” Meyer said. “We had another cancer survivor who also needed a washing machine and a refrigerator who was keeping her food on ice and washing her clothes in the bathtub.”
Last year Meyer received the 2019 Walter “Mike” Maloney Environmental Service Award by the Prince George’s Sierra Club for her work promoting reducing waste, reusing materials and conserving resources.
Community Forklift received a notable mention in the Hyattsville Wire’s 2019 “Best of Route 1” reader poll for Best Vintage Shop.
