Habitat Donation Precedes Demolition

OCEAN CITY - Demolition crews are on site of the Avelon Inn today, preparing to tear down the building to make way for a new corporate hotel.

Crews worked this week to clear out the furniture and equipment left in the building, but instead of taking the material to auction or to the county dump, the property owner chose a different route, donating all of the viable furniture and hotel equipment to Habitat for Humanity.

'I was very surprised and pleased to hear from [project designer] Jay Bergey and Jeff Thaler that the owners of the Avelon Hotel wanted to donate their furniture and equipment to us,' said Michael Braun, vice president of the Central Delaware Habitat for Humanity (CDHFH).

All of the reusable furniture and equipment, such as mattresses, sofas, chairs, televisions, air conditioners, and refrigerators, were moved out of the Avelon yesterday and moved to the CDHFH ReStore in Dover, Del. in an effort to efficiently recycle the reusable material.

'Central Delaware Habitat for Humanity is a small, all volunteer affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International and we opened our ReStore just this last July. The items we are getting from the Avelon will be sold in our ReStore and the profits will be used to help fund our building program in Kent County,' explained Braun.

CDHFH depends solely on volunteer hours and generous donations, such as the donation made from the Avelon Hotel, to fuel their operation. CDHFH uses those resources to construct simple houses for homeowner-partner families. Habitat houses are sold to the families at no profit and financed with affordable no-interest loans. The monthly mortgage from Habitat homes is then used to build more Habitat houses.

CDHFH's ReStore takes donations of usable, new and used building materials and products from private homes or from closing businesses, such as the Avelon. The materials and products are then resold to the public at discount prices.

'Habitat for Humanity is unique in that we sell the homes we build for what they cost us.  Thus the money we will get from the Avelon equipment donation will be used to help build someone a new home, their payments on their mortgage will be used to build someone else a new home and on and on,' said Braun.

Avelon Inn owner Nick Tekeman could not be reached for comments.