Outreach center opens for building materials

A nonprofit plans to redistribute unused building materials to promote conservation, help keep families in their homes and lower energy bills.

The River Valley Community Outreach Center in Gridley opened Saturday.

A ribbon cutting for the center will be held 9 a.m. Tuesday. The center is at 390 Virginia St. An open house celebration is planned from 8 am. to 5 p.m. Dec. 12.

Mark Miller, 45, said his faith led him to open the center that will match the "under-resourced with the overstocked."

Miller finds companies that manufacture building materials, tools, supplies and related products. The companies donate slow-moving or obsolete product, Miller said.

"It's more than just a warehouse full of materials," Miller said Monday of the new center, citing his goal of the site becoming a central point for volunteerism.

He said his uncle's Mountain Resource Center in West Virginia inspired the Gridley site, which could potentially expand its reach from the Oregon border to Sacramento.

"Grassroots, community-based outreaches like this can change our community," Miller said. "We also hope to able to create some types of vocational programs in the near future that involve installing these materials or building a marketable product with the materials which teaching a trade to young people."

He described the effort as true recycling that keeps materials out of landfills while helping the donor company "go green" and recycle materials.

Homes will be made more energy efficient and as a result lower utility bills of families, Miller said.