BIG!Gives Back Overview

Through the BIG!Gives Back program, Build It Green!NYC donates used building materials to charities, schools, environmental groups and artists in New York City.

If you are looking for a donation of wood or lumber for a community or school garden space, please apply for our BIG!Blooms program. Click here to learn more and for the online application.

Check out the growing list of BIG!Gives Back recipients!

Project: "For Closure" at the Bronx River Art Center (Spring-Fall 2012)

BIG!Gives Back donated doors for Gabriela Salazar's sculpture "For Closure."  More information:

The Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) and the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), through its Urban Art Program's Arterventions initiative, are pleased to unveil a new, temporary public art sculpture by New York City-based artist Gabriela Salazar. Salazar's sculpture, For Closure, will be on view for seven months at the center of West Farms Square Plaza - located at the base of the West Farms Square/East Tremont Avenue subway station, on the corner of East Tremont Avenue and Boston Road in the Bronx, and one block away from the Bronx River Art Center.

FOCUS Hispanic Center

Thanks for making it Possible - A Thank You Letter From FOCUS Hispanic Center

"The nutrition staff from FOCUS Hispanic Center for Community Development, Inc., began a process of decorating the community area of the building which serves as the activity center and service area for senior nutritional meals. Participants  had grown accustom to multi colored office chairs some red, some black, a few tan chairs and grey as they tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible on metal folding chairs at long older institutional tables.  
For the many seniors who arrive each day a drastic change was necessary and staff wanted to provide a more friendly open space where participants could spend fun filled hours with their peers.  The task would require all the help staff could find.  Like so many other not for profits organizations the agency budget has been stretched to meet the daily operational needs, leaving little funds to acquire new furniture, a dab of paint here or there, the purchase of live plants and light fixtures. The required finances just could not be given until there was additional funding for the program. 
FOCUS staff recognized the task would require a nearly Herculean effort to find some kind soul or companies that would help change our ugly duckling of a room into a happy welcoming space.
We had no special wand with magical powders to transform the community space into a pleasant open environment, but agency staff member Jamaar Winborne contacted Home Depot and crews of volunteers came in and painted the area, installed additional lights and new panels for the suspended ceiling, two new flat screen televisions were placed on the wall and live hanging plants were added to the room giving the space a special touch.
The community room was beginning a slow process of renovations; we really needed tables and chairs.  Nutrition staff spent hours on various websites trying to find affordable tables and forty matching chairs that would eliminated the psychedelic seating mix in the community room.  Always hoping for free items but asking administration to dig deep for a little money to complete the project, staff searched for weeks but could not find anything in the “dirt cheap” price range.
After weeks of back and forth looking finally luck smiled on a web site called “Build It Green! NYC”.  
“Build It Green ! NYC is a not for profit organization located the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens New York that recycles equipment, supplies and numerous other salvage materials.  As staff looked over their website the inventory offered pictures of tables and lots of other equipment and supplies that appeared affordable.“Build It Green ! NYC” staff members Dylan Latimer, Harvey Jaswal and the volunteers were great. Management at “Build It Green” understood the hardships of a not for profit agency and took into consideration the current financial situation, they suggested FOCUS apply for a special grant that if approved could be beneficial for future agency supply needs.
At the Brooklyn location staff assisted us with the loading of our table purchases and after filling out their agency’s grant form FOCUS became a grantee of “Build It Green”.  FOCUS Hispanic Center received from the Build It Green Queens location forty-six chairs with a value of $2,250.00 at no cost to FOCUS.

All participants and visitors who come to FOCUS can visually see the difference these items have made in the community room. Our FOCUS family is very happy and thankful for the help of “Build It Green, NYC and the help and assistance of Home Depot and their volunteer crew for making the lives of FOCUS seniors so much more comfortable and joyous.     
The Open Celebration for the new community room and the newly renovated kitchen took place on April 11, 2012 with more than seventy-five seniors and invited guests."