• Used furniture from Grant lives on in schools around the world

    8/31/2017
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    Workers move funiture from Grant High School.

    Workers move funiture from Grant High School.

    As demolition and renovation gets underway at Grant High School, parts of the historic school will see new life in other schools as far away as Burundi, Africa.

    When the Grant campus was temporarily closed this June for modernization, PPS faced the challenge of deciding what to do with more than 3,700 pieces of obsolete but still functional furniture. The District reached out to IRN Surplus – The Reuse Network, whose corporate mission is to keep usable surplus furniture and equipment out of landfills, by matching them with nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and around the world.

    The entire inventory of old Grant furniture was removed in just five days and divided into 13 shipments. Eleven of these went to seven countries on three continents (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mauritania, Mali, Somalia, Burundi, and Lebanon). School furniture is in high demand in developing countries. The remaining shipments were delivered to Habitat for Humanity ReStores in Oregon and Washington.  These stores will resell the furniture to support their mission of building new and repairing older homes for those in need.

    “What a great example to set for our students,” says Jamie Hurd, Grant Project Coordinator.

    Not only did the reuse solution save PPS 20 percent in disposal costs, it also kept more than 120,000 pounds of materials out of the landfill. The effort upheld District’s commitment to sustainability while helping other communities in need. The reuse option also contributes toward Grant High School’s projected LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating.

    PPS is widely recognized for its commitment to sustainability in both the classroom and operations, with initiatives ranging from school gardens to renewable energy sources. The new Grant will have more than $1 million in solar energy generation installed.

    For more information about the Grant Modernization project please visit http://GrantBond.pps.net.

    -David Mayne

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