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It is a busy day at the A&B Floors & More building, just north of the Ponca City High School campus on Seventh Street, which is now the new home of for the Ponca city Area Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore. Inside are racks filled with household items, things homeowners could put to work in their own home, from appliances and lighting to furniture and yes, even flooring. Customers are busy looking for that perfect item to put into their own homes. Through a network of hallways and nooks and crannies, the treasure hunt continues, eventually spilling into the back room, where items are coming in, waiting for someone to catalog them and place them on a shelf for new homeowners to pick them up. All proceeds from money raised here will be used to help yet another family find a place to love and call their own.
The business was formerly located off Grand Avenue, at First and Central, dwarfed by the historic Robin Hood Flour grain elevator. Stan Brown is a volunteer at the store, helping customers with whatever questions they might have. He ducks into a small, quiet office at the back of the store to discuss their new location, and how much better it is compared to the original.
“There is air conditioning, the light is better and it is in a better, more convenient location for customers,” he said. Upon touring the facility, one sees items of all sizes, from tiny nuts, bolts and screws to large furniture fixtures ready to go home with a new owner. “These are donations from the community – people doing remodeling efforts,” he said. “Furniture is actually a big seller. We also have bathtubs.”
Those who walk through the doors looking for that special product have a team of volunteers to help them find the place to go. “We have two paid employees, and the rest of us are volunteers. We keep the store running,” he said. “We have to do a lot of sorting, and we sometimes do pickups to go get donations.” The store’s merchandise is available to the entire community, and ultimately helps put a family in a new home in Ponca City, a non-profit venture more than 10 years in the making.
Those serving on the board of directors include Dolley Rolland, president; Hunter Vap, vice president; Jill Ulenhop, secretary; Stan Brown, treasurer; and board members Marshall Basham, Frances Coonrod, Don Fore, Tanya Gibson, John Gonsalves, Joyce Ketcher, Erin Liberton, Brenda Luttrell, Laura Marshall and Kim Reusser. The store opened at its original location in 2007 after a similar store proved beneficial in Stillwater. “Stillwater Habitat had a ReStore, and it was very successful. The profits went into building houses for Habitat families, so we thought we needed one,” he said. “We could build houses (and) keep items out of the dump. It also gives people building materials for their own house, so it was kind of a three-way thing.”
They rented their former store near the elevator until only a few months ago, when they were forced to find a new residence. “The building was sold, so we started looking for a place because we knew we needed to find a bigger place, and a place of our own,” Rolland said. “For 16 years, we were renting, and we just decided it was time to have our own building.” The building had seen several previous tenants, including an office supply company and the flooring store. Its first business had actually been a grocery store. “Originally it was Hatfield’s Grocery back in the 1950s. A lot of older people that come in remember that it was a grocery store,” Brown said.
It had only recently been placed for auction, and board members received the winning bid for their forthcoming home. “Two of our board members came and bid the price,” Rolland said. The building was a step up for the organization, as it has more space than their previous building. This has allowed them to offer so much more to the community, from flooring to electrical and plumbing, furniture and appliances and even smaller items like nuts and bolts. They also have entertainment like books and DVDs, and even kitchen items. “We used to have glassware, but now we take it to the Caboose and Goodwill,” he said. “They work with us, too. Goodwill brings us things.”
Items are also donated by local businesses, products they need to get off the showroom floor.
“Some of the local businesses donate merchandise when they get new merchandise, and they sometimes swap out the old merchandise, and we get them,” Brown said.
The items donated are returned to the community through customer purchases; they don’t use them in their own projects. “We don’t use them in our new Habitat Homes because we want the house to live 20 years, so we hate to put used material in there,” Brown said.
The store is operated mostly through a network of volunteers, but there are two paid employees, Store Manager Tricia Fagg, and Roland Marcee, who is paid through the Oklahoma Economic Development Authority. “He [Roland Marcee] has been a blessing. If I am without a manager, he steps in until we get someone,” Dolly Rolland said. Funds raised at the store are poured back into their housing projects, as well as mortgages.
“About half the funding for the houses comes from ReStore, and the other half from mortgage payments,” Brown said. “We have 17 mortgages, but we’ve built over 30 houses.” He relayed that a mortgage takes about 20 years to pay off. They also do not hold fundraisers because they raise their funds themselves.
“Habitat for Humanity has never had to ask the community for funding. We’ve never had a fundraiser, because we are self-financed,” Brown said. Habitat for Humanity works with the community in constructing houses, including local contractors, as well as the city to find the best location.
“We have four lots on East Grand Avenue, which is good for schools, and six lots on West Grand that were very good,” Brown said. “Two houses, we had to buy their property, but for the most part, they are donated, and we want to be near schools and good neighborhoods.” As for the Ponca City Area Habitat for Humanity, they are thrilled to be in their own facility, one they can truly call their own and serve the community the best way they can – selling gently used housing fixtures and furniture.
“We were blessed by God that we were able to get the building,” Rolland said.
The NEW Habitat for Humanity Restore is located at 1402 N. Seventh St.; hours of operation are 9 a.m-2 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. For more information, e-mail [email protected], visit poncacityhabitat.org or call (580) 765-2974.
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