Life & Work with Nick Francis of Madeira

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Francis

Hi Nick, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Scrap2Home started during the Covid pandemic as a project to do while everybody was at home. I noticed how much wood was thrown in dumpsters at construction sites in my neighborhood, and I thought to myself: “ We could build something with that wood.” My daughter, Katie, and I would drive up to a site in our SUV and ask if we could take their scrap. Of course they never cared. My wife, Amy, was finding simple designs for furniture online. Katie and I would build the furniture in our garage and Amy would paint or stain it. It was very small scale; we built just a few items. We found a place to donate our furniture, New Life Furniture Bank, another local nonprofit. When we went to tour New Life Furniture Bank, we discovered they had a woodshop. I started to wonder if we could turn this Covid project into a legitimate nonprofit. Fast forward a couple of years and I had quit my full-time job and developed a relationship with New Life Furniture Bank whereby we could build furniture in their woodshop that would be donated to their clients. This proved to be a fantastic partnership that helped us truly test the concept of Scrap2Home.
We have now been operating for two years as a 501c3 nonprofit. We have saved more than 28,000 pounds of wood from the landfill and recently passed 1,000 items built. The volunteers who help us build have made this possible, amassing 4500 hours of volunteer time.
The next step for Scrap2Home is moving to a new woodshop location. This is necessary given our growth and our needs to sustain the organization. We are planning to move in the spring of 2025.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not always! There have been various challenges, as with any startup. Collecting wood in the early days was difficult because we did not have a truck. Thanks to the generosity of a few volunteers with pick-up trucks,, we were able to collect the wood. Just over a year ago a truck was donated to us, which has made wood collection much easier.
Settling on a design for various pieces of furniture took some trial and error. We needed something that was fairly simple so that it could be repeated by our volunteers. We also wanted designs that looked attractive and were sturdy.
With time and experience, we have improved the quality of our products. This has also happened because we’ve been able to purchase new machinery thanks to the generosity of a few donors.
Generating revenue to sustain the operation is an ongoing challenge. This is certainly not unique to Scrap2Home!!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Before starting Scrap2Home I was an educator for about thirty years. I worked at the college level for eight years and then at a high school – The Seven Hills School in Cincinnati – for the next twenty-five. At the high school I was a Physical Education teacher for seven years, the high school Principal for seven years, and Director of Experiential Learning for eight years. I also coached soccer and tennis at the high school level for about thirty years. For the past two years I have been teaching Health part-time at the same school.
I am most proud of the close relationships in my family. I am thankful every day for my wife, Amy, and my three children, Sam (24), Katie (23), and Molly (21). We genuinely enjoy being together and make an effort to ensure that happens as the kids get older.
I’m not sure what I’m known for! I would guess health and fitness would be one thing. I like to be active and I enjoy various sports such as tennis, golf, mountain biking, skiing and soccer. And maybe my attitude about pursuing things that you care about in your life – I have tried to instill this in the students I taught/coached and my own children.
One thing that is different about me is that I’m originally from England. I came to the States for graduate school in 1990 and I’ve been here pretty much ever since.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Do things that you care about and do them with full energy and as well as you possibly can. This is true for work, relationships, and hobbies.
I suppose I could summarize the most important lessons I’ve learned with three statements:
1. Appreciate what you have.
2. Enjoy what you are doing.
3. Work hard at whatever you do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.scrap2home.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085369272891