The Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation (BLACF) recently surprised Bridges of Hope with a check for $10,000 to support their new textile recycling project.

Textile recycling is a process to recover fabrics, yarn, metals, and other waste materials and then reprocess and make them into new items. Bridges of Hope’s Common Goods thrift stores in Crosby, Crosslake, and Baxter will collect these items and provide them to area recyclers, who will turn them into items like carpet pads or home insulation.

“We have those items that are just not sales-floor worthy,” said Jana Shogren, Bridges of Hope Executive Director. “We are starting this program to be able to collect those items that people don’t need and we can’t sell, but we also don’t want them to go into the landfill.”

BLACF said they selected Bridges of Hope as a grant recipient as they were impressed with their textile recycling idea, and that it will be a great source of revenue for them and help with sustainability.

By — Hanky Hazelton