Home Genius Exteriors has donated $100,000 worth of windows to Habitat for Humanity of South Central New Jersey, a local branch of the national organization that provides affordable-home ownership and repair services.
The donation was formally celebrated at a small ceremony on April 7 at the organization’s ReStore.
“Growth has awarded us the ability to have resources to be able to contribute, and the most respected part is being able to look back upon what we’ve done and what we are proud of,” said Austin Killian, co-founder and vice president of the East region for Home Genius Exteriors.
Leadership from both Home Genius and the Habitat for Humanity attended the ceremony, each bringing teams of volunteers to aid in delivering, sorting and organizing donated materials.
“We had quite a bit of unusable and unreturnable windows from prior projects in the past,” noted Ambrose Powell, a regional install manager for Home Genius Exteriors, “and they were sitting in our warehouse … We can’t necessarily use them on every house that comes up … so we found it to be a phenomenal opportunity to help the community.”
The windows will not be installed into houses built by Habitat but instead will be sold at the ReStore, which sells building materials and housewares at a discounted rate and uses the profits to continue building affordable homes in the community.
“The ReStore plays a vital role in our mission by selling donated materials at a fraction of the cost, keeping usable items out of landfills, and generating proceeds that directly support affordable housing efforts in our communities,” explained John Garton, CFO/COO of the area’s Habitat for Humanity branch, in a public statement announcing the Home Genius donation.
Home Genius has an initiative called Home Genius Cares, for which the company at least once a quarter puts away a small percentage of funds from every paid project to put forward donations and volunteer opportunities for its staff in every department.
“So our employees actually went out and found an opportunity with Habitat for Humanity, where they have a program that allows them to repurpose building materials, because their plan is to build homes, communities,” said Killian.
This is not the first time the two entities have partnered; Home Genius has helped donate roofs to veterans who needed repairs. Plans for further partnerships are in the works, both for more donated materials for the ReStore and another donated roof.
Annie Fox is chief development officer for the local Habitat branch.
“I had been speaking with Austin (Killian), who’s one of the VPs and founders, and we’ve already agreed that he would help us replace another roof for another veteran,” Fox said. “So we’re going to be looking through our list of people who are in need and get that going as well.”
