BLOG ARCHIVE | Worldwide & Habitat for Humanity

Written by Karina Kedaitis

Donations are a regular effort made by Worldwide Material Handling. Being located right outside of one of America’s largest cities, the opportunities to give are never in short supply. What Worldwide gives, however, is usually the fun part. Oftentimes their donations will have a quirky backstory or come about in a unique way.

A recent project resulted in 22 windows and other material from a demolished house, all headed straight for the garbage. Thankfully, President and CEO, Vic Kedaitis was able to salvage them from the scrap piles.  “I noticed there were a lot of very usable structure items,” he said. “It was disturbing to me that if I didn’t find a way to re-purpose these items, it would simply go to a landfill.”

After some research, Habitat for Humanity was eager to help save so many high-quality windows for their fundraising resale shop, and to use on new housing projects around Chicago. While saving materials from a debris pile seems like an easy enough task, it took a decent amount of effort to correctly extract and transport all these salvaged goods to the right place. “It was actually more expensive for me to salvage these items [than it was to let them go the scrap pile], but it was worth it,” recalls Kedaitis.

These windows will go to a variety of homes in one way or another, giving the gift of security and shelter to families around Chicagoland. Vic and his team hope that their efforts “will keep a family warmer for many winters – also saving them from high energy costs.”  

Worldwide’s commitment to reusing and recycling is a characteristic that runs strong within their internal operations. Maybe it’s the blood, sweat, and tears that the company was built upon that encourages such a strong “no waste” mentality, as well as the desire to lend a hand to someone else trying to build something for the better.