BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Building Material Thrift Store has new life, a new location and a new cause.

The store, ran for many years by the Wood River Land Trust across from POWER Engineers, is reopening in Bellevue.

In its new form, it will benefit The Crisis Hotline Idaho; Neighbors Helping Neighbors, which was established at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and other partner nonprofit organizations.

The new location is at 213 N. Main St., in Bellevue in what some might know as The Bead Shop. For more information, contact Tammy Davis at tammy@thecrisishotline.org.

The thrift store opened in 1999 in the Woodside Industrial Park and was headed nearly 20 years by Bruce Tidwell, a former contractor. Proceeds from the store were donated to the Land Trust to aid its mission of preserving and restoring land, water and wildlife habitat.

Over the years, the store was able to help people repurpose tons of construction materials that would otherwise have ended up at the landfill. The store enabled many a valley resident to outfit their homes with new kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, windows and bamboo flooring. Not to mention treasures like an organ that once crossed its threshold.

The store even helped people get homes, as it moved nearly two dozen homes that might have otherwise been demolished.