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One of my new hats has me working for Brocken Shackle Ranch in Davisboro GA.
Christian Teen Facility that tries to equip young boys getting close to aging out of the system , with marketable skill sets. GEDs, some college credits, trades skills etc.. 20 or so 16 to 18 year old boys are at the Ranch at any given time.
We have taught them how to work with solid surface materials. We are now looking for low cost or FREE
sources for material for the boys to work with. They are mostly making countertops for the ranch, or cutting boards, or just learning to work with the material.Anybody have any thoughts on approaching distributors about donating discontinued, damaged, or otherwise unusable sheet goods?
Any brrainstorming ideas would be appreciated.
Monday AM, I am going to start calling all of the distributors I can think of and see if we have any luck……
That is an excellent idea Chris. I would think you should call manufacturers too.
A & B grade material goes to distributors, but C grade material gets held. When I was working at Nevamar we had a guy from Nam that would come in pick out C grade material from the ‘boneyard” to ship back to Nam and fabricate. We sold it to him on a pound basis. The rest would get held forever or landfilled.I would think to garner skill in fabrication you could use reject material. It could have air in it, it could be off color, warped, too thin. They could still garner skill (cutting, gluing, sanding and finishing, repairing) with that.I would think a manufacturer would be willing to donate that for a tax break for a charitable donation.I will talk to some guys over here in China but I don’t think they would want to foot the shipping fees. I think you would have a better chance with US manufacturers.Plus it makes for great Corporate Press releases…Avonite, DuPont etc., giving back to the community.Posted By Lenny E on 28 Jul 2013 02:19 AM
That is an excellent idea Chris. I would think you should call manufacturers too.
A & B grade material goes to distributors, but C grade material gets held. When I was working at Nevamar we had a guy from Nam that would come in pick out C grade material from the ‘boneyard” to ship back to Nam and fabricate. We sold it to him on a pound basis. The rest would get held forever or landfilled.I would think to garner skill in fabrication you could use reject material. It could have air in it, it could be off color, warped, too thin. They could still garner skill (cutting, gluing, sanding and finishing, repairing) with that.I would think a manufacturer would be willing to donate that for a tax break for a charitable donation.I will talk to some guys over here in China but I don’t think they would want to foot the shipping fees. I think you would have a better chance with US manufacturers.Plus it makes for great Corporate Press releases…Avonite, DuPont etc., giving back to the community.You may have a hard time with DuPont. Let me illustrate with another Lenny Story.
Anyone remember SSS? It stood for “Super Solid Surface”. As the story goes This guy was hired by DuPont to take away all their C grade material and landfill it. They paid him to take it away.He re-labelled it SSS (for Super Solid Surface) and sold it for cheap. Hah! People loved it.
Of course the suits at DuPont got their panties all in a bunch and tried to sue the guy. They lost..Judge ruled you paid him to take it away and he did!So now they break that stuff up and landfill it. But I would think since you were not selling it and it is great Corporate Press release fodder/ possible tax break they may be willing to donate to you as long as you did not re label it ‘Super Solid Surface” and resell it.Who is still a stateside manufacturer?
Does anyone, know anyone at Avonite that I could talk to? I will start with the front desk and say “yes ma’am” a lot, and see, but it would be nice to have a specific person to ask for.
Stateside manufacturers for Chris-
DuPont- Buffalo NY
Avonite- Belen NM (polyblend plant), and the Aristech Acrylic plant in FLorence KY-
LG Hi Macs- Adairsville GA- I guess they still make some there. They opened the plant back in 04 I think.OEM’s- (manufactured elsewhere but distribution in US.)
WilsonArt
Formica (I will send a contact and introduction for them).
StaronMedium manufacturers- (lots of these)
Tower Industries (Massillon OH)- I will send you a contact and introduction for that too. He is a very good guy! Tell him Lenny sent ya!I will talk to some guys over here in the Orient to see what they can do for the program also.
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