A few months ago, when her organization was trying to repair a few transitional houses, Pittsburgh Family Development CEO Carmen Bell had trouble finding low-cost building supplies.

So she approached Home Depot to see whether it had any surplus material.

What started as a small request for building supplies has grown into a full-service warehouse in Braddock. It is stocked with surplus building supplies that have been saved from city dumps, as well as donated clothes and other materials available at deep discounts to local churches and non-profits. And that's how the Greater Pittsburgh Distribution Center -- which Ms. Bell described as a "Costco" for non-profits and churches -- was born.

Last Thursday, about 50 local officials and non-profit leaders had an opportunity to tour the warehouse.

When the program is fully operational, sometime in the next month, non-profits will have an opportunity to get memberships, which will give them access to building products from Home Depot, which are offered at half-discount or more.

The center also will have donated clothes and furniture, which come to the facility through the organization Gift-In-Kind International. Nearly 60 non-profits have already signed up for memberships.

Ms. Bell said a lot of non-profits face challenges in expanding their services because they lack access to low-cost building materials and furniture, things that are not typically donated.

"That's been a major issue for non-profits," she said. "I wanted to make sure that service providers had the tools that they need to complete the tasks at hand."

Ms. Bell sees the project as a way to not only deliver low-cost supplies to non-profits, but to save products that stores have discarded even though they can be used.

"They would have been put in landfills, thrown away, crushed up," she said. "And now all that product will be diverted."

The program also will save a large building on Braddock's Washington Avenue from dilapidation.

The center is hoping to get county money to rehab that building, formerly Braddock Junior High School, and preserve many of the original fixtures.

The building, now owned by Pittsburgh Family Development, has been vacant and crumbling for about 25 years.

The center also has been able to provide warehouse jobs to three community members.

"It's going to really benefit and impact the community," Ms. Bell said.

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