After retiring and satisfying my need to venture into the wilderness for a number of backpacking trips I have settled back into a volunteer role helping fulfill the mission of Swedemom Center of Giving, SCOG, by helping move our local Habitat ReStore forward with online sales. This all started in 2015 when I helped startup MacHub which laid the groundwork for the SCOG dream. I departed for a year working in Washington and much progress occurred as MacHub became a Causal Hub for the Yamhill County Gospel Rescue Mission under the umbrella of Swedemom Center of Giving and McMinnville Habitat ReStore transitioned from a partial hub to become a full Causal hub. The SCOG mission has always been “To generate financial stability for all nonprofit organizations and ensure the success of their programs”. This has proven to be possible and I am fortunate to have found a way that I can be a part of this dream.

Swedemom provides specialized financial assistance to other nonprofits through the Swedemom LLC online sales platform which utilizes eBay and other similar online sales networks. Our nonprofit partners collect donations of quality goods, sell them on the nationwide Swedemom platform, and become self-sustaining hubs that generate funds for their charitable programs. The original Swedemom sales website is about to be replaced with options to allow the individual hubs to show their own items. This will be so valuable for the ReStore to have their own online sales presence.

I have joined the SCOG Board of Directors but my focus is on helping the McMinnville Habitat ReStore become a successful casual hub. They have been developing this hub since I was helping MacHub and they have been making consistent progress with a the prospect of a huge upside potential. The ReStore model is a perfect fit, they have a donations intake operation that can easily expand beyond just taking in building and home items. For the last couple of months I have been providing consistency for running the ReStore Hub which in turn has given me a working perspective on the overall effort needed to be successful. Many of you may know how to sell items on eBay, however, taking it to a inventory based operation with daily sales fulfillment requires an organizational commitment.

We have a long way to go to fine tune the Swedemom model but we have the people and enough resources to guarantee success. Helping Habitat for Humanity fulfill their dream to create “A world where everyone has a decent place to live” does resonate with my passion. This is “Way Cool”, stay tuned as we get ready to setup more Habitat ReStore Hubs in Oregon.