The Maine Women's Journal - Fall 2007

After 14 years of doing what she loves, Ruth Libby has been reenergized by her new facility. Ruth’s Reusable Resources recently relocated to 39 Blueberry Road in a huge, almost 28,000-square-foot warehouse that Unum formerly owned. It offers a new beginning in the history of the nonprofit organization.

Why Move?
“The Town of Scarborough told us 2 years ago the Bessey School was getting turned into senior citizen housing. We were within the school for free,” Ruth related. She started looking for a new home back then.

History
She recollects how it all began. “We have 3 boys and the teachers would ask us to bring in meat trays and egg cartons and cereal boxes for different art projects or classes. I started saving stuff and my mother was collecting reusable items from Unum, so I was filling up the art room at the school. I knew a woman in Auburn who collected recyclable material from businesses, and I went to meet her.”

After that, she believed she could do this, too. All she had was her basement where Scarborough teachers shopped for about 6 months. Then the Oak Hill School space opened up even though it was just one room.

“I wrote a letter to Unum about what I do and the letter sat around for a year!” she said. Then finally one day, a Unum employee called and asked if she was still doing this. “They had about 60 pallets of socks, shoes, pillows, coats -- everything from former employees.” It took 4 hours to sort through everything. Most of it was binders and office supplies. One needs to know that during the first two years of this endeavor, Ruth did not get paid. “Nobody else was doing this on this scale for recycled goods.”

Scarborough Days
Later, the Bessey School space opened up as 3R’s base for 11 years. Bessey was first a high school, then an elementary facility. Now it is being converted to senior citizen housing. During her first year there, Ruth received a $20,000 start up grant from Unum. “It’s been word of mouth (product donation and memberships) since then,” she says proudly.

Movin’ Out…Movin’ In
It took them 33 days to move out which Ruth describes as “worse than having a baby”. Unum helped in donating a moving truck and some manpower. “Unum has truly been amazing. They know how important the resource center is to their recycling and to education in the state and how important we are to the rest of the businesses in the state.” In fact, since the beginning, Ruth’s endeavor has saved Maine schools over $16 million through her hard work in providing recylable materials for use by teachers and students.

The quest for a new home took time and she was just breaking even. Ironically, the Blueberry Road location was the first building she saw. “It was on the market for $1.7 million and I thought there was no way I could afford that, but everything was included: forklifts, etc.” She kept looking.

Members of her board and others had expressed concern to her as to how she could be so strong. Even her husband Tom, who has been in the business with her full time for the past 9 years said, ‘How do you stay so positive?’ and she replied, “I don’t have time to be negative. I only have 3 month to find a building. And, the money. There are not going to be any ‘what if’s’!”

There were several locations they looked at but which did not work out. And, through it all she, has had a relationship with Unum. “They’ve always been a product owner and they have probably donated over $100k throughout the last 13 years.”

It was difficult, but her perserverence – and courage – paid off. “It took me about 10 minutes to hit the seventh number of the Corporate Relations Department at Unum because I don’t usually ask for anything”, Ruth admitted. The person on the other end answered and Ruth began: “You guys have a building you’ve been trying to sell for over a year and I need a building within 3 months. What’s the possibility that you would sell it to me for under a million dollars?” Unum authorities started analyzing it all. Ruth said, “It took awhile but 3 weeks later, they said, ‘How about $635k?”. She sat and cried. “I couldn’t believe it.” Her dream of finally having a huge space to do this work was finally coming true.

However, the issue of lining up a loan still loomed. “We checked with many banks and TD Banknorth gave us a loan. Then she had a meeting set up with the Governor where she went for the ask again. She ended up with a Maine Department of Education grant for $235k.

New Beginnings
Unbelievably, she had 17 tractor trailer trucks of stuff from Bessey School coming to unload. But no longer does Ruth nor her staff have to deal with stairs. And, finally, they have 3 loading docks. Various people have helped along the way.

“Adam Lee of Lee Auto Mall called 1 day and he had been seeing the articles in The Forecaster. He offered to help create a public service announcement and have it filmed for television. He told her he had already called Ch. 6 and they would be there on Friday. He told her this on a Monday. Then, within 30 minutes, a man came in and said he was from Coast 93 Radio who said, “We want to do a 50-hour, $50,000 marathon for you.” Ruth was incredulous. “It’s been nonstop since.”

Lee also suggested that 3R’s getting Pay Pal set up on their website so people could make donations online. In just the past 5½ months, they have raised $50k from a combination of sources: the radio marathon, Pay Pal, newspaper articles, corporate donations, grants, family trust, and individuals.

“Free Stores for Teachers”
There are 28 other Resource Centers across the country affiliated with each other with the “Kids In Need Foundation”, an organization that helps to find product which companies are looking to donate in large quantities. Those quantities are split up amoungst the 28 Resource Centers.

3R’s Membership
Schools and non-profit organizations that are 501 c3 can join via a yearly membership. Once that membership is paid, the teachers and staff can come in and shop for free. Memberships and product donation growth has primarily been through word of mouth, now totaling 97 here in Maine.

How Does It Feel?
“It’s not even comparable. I could fit my house on the loading dock!” she says a laugh. “I’ve worked so hard and so long to get to this point.. I’ve had this vision in my head for so long of what this could be but I’ve never been able to make it happen or it wasn’t the right time.” She gets reflective. “Things happen for a reason, but as soon as they built that firewall, it defined that store in a way that was in my head all of this time.”

Immediate Plans
The new locale will have a teacher’s shopping section which they are hoping to open by October 27th (tentative). The public store will probably open in mid to late November. The public will be able to obtain items “by weight” Ruth says.

Advice?
Ruth says she just does something that makes sense in terms of her involvement with recycling. But she adds, “I’ve never thought of myself as a businessperson.”

Her thoughts or advice to those who wonder about struggling for things and being perservering? “Life is awesome…it is way too short to dwell on the what ifs…Just spend that time figuring out how and go at it. I thank God everyday,” she says with a smile.

Would she do anything different along her path to here? “I would’ve taken a class on how to go for the ask,” she chuckles. “But I probably wouldn’t have had the money to take the class!” she says with a wry smile.

It’s obvious her sense of humor and determination and good work has garnered attention. “We won the Recycler of the Year Award from Regional Waste (now Eco-Maine),” she states. “And, we had a Golden Apple from the Maine Principal’s Association.”

Vacationtime in Vacationland?
Ruth admits she hasn’t had a vacation since she started this business. “I am tired!” She hopes sometime before the end of this year or early next year, maybe January that they will have a ribbon cutting ceremony. Then, take that much needed break.

The Future?
Ruth’s board is in the midst of planning a capital campaign with a goal of $1M which will pay off the mortgage of the building. It will also help jumpstart the business in terms of being a long-term sustainable organization for years to come to continue its important work in Maine.

Mary E. Regan, a Westbrook resident, is a journalist at heart but is currently a freelance Publicist. She can be reached via email at meregan@maine.rr.com.

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