FINDING SPACE AND MAKING SPACE FOR OTHERS

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Michael Haskell. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Michael Haskell didn’t realize what he stumbled upon one day at a storage unit facility, but it soon turned into a pathway to helping others.

The high school student was offered the opportunity to look through an unclaimed storage unit. While many people come to bid on storage units that are abandoned by their owners, sometimes nobody bothers to even place a bid. When he learned that around a million cubic feet of storage contents go un-auctioned and subsequently dumped in the trash every year, Michael knew it was time to take action.

Inside that abandoned storage unit, Michael discovered a goldmine. Everything from armoires to mattresses sat in the unit, and Michael realized that charitable organizations are often desperate for larger items to outfit homes. Knowing he was onto something, Michael founded Storage Angels, an organization that clears abandoned storage lockers and donates the contents to local charities.

Michael is responsible for choosing the units that he clears out with a team of dedicated volunteers. While small lockers can take less than an hour to empty, larger ones can require two or three hours. Luckily, Michael notes that they rarely have to dump items found in the storage lockers, because the items that are worth paying to store are decent enough to keep. After clearing out the units, Michael distributes the items to worthy organizations or sells the items on eBay and donates the profits. While items can be massive pieces of furniture, they can also be smaller, like a silver necklace he sold on eBay for $100 and donated the profits to charity.

Michael’s endeavor has been incredibly worthwhile: Since starting Storage Angels in his sophomore year of high school, the organization has cleared over 20 lockers and donated an estimated $20,000 worth of furniture and household items to worthwhile organizations. They’ve also donated 700 pounds of gently-used clothing. While Michael has a busy high school course load to carry, he doesn’t view his volunteering responsibility as a burden because he simply enjoys helping others that much. His passion for empowering those who need a hand up is a powerful example of how volunteerism can change lives.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

I think what inspired me was being at a locker facility one day and seeing the contents of a locker that would have otherwise gone into the trash being offered to me to look through. Seeing all of this stuff that would have otherwise been discarded in that locker– specifically in that one, I saw a lot of mattresses. I saw an armoire, a beautiful couch and smaller stuff. There were vintage toys from the fifties. All of this stuff would have been discarded because the locker facility usually contracts with a removal company to dump this all into the trash. Seeing all that stuff go to waste upset me a little bit, because it showed me that there are a lot of these lockers that don’t sell, and are going to go for zero dollars and have all that stuff thrown out. I really saw that as a way in which I could make a big impact by giving away the stuff in these lockers to charity that would have otherwise been thrown out.

What inspires you to volunteer?

The rewarding part of volunteering for me is getting together with other volunteers and collectively making an impact. Specifically with Storage Angels, it’s the feeling of going to a locker facility, seeing the mystery in this unsold locker, seeing if we can find really good stuff for charities, and having a lot of fun with volunteers and making a really big impact together. I think that’s really powerful, and that’s really what keeps me coming back to these lockers.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Storage Angels.

There are lots of responsibilities. I’m in charge of picking out the lockers that we’re going to clear out, gathering the volunteers who are able to come to the facility and clear out the locker and getting the trucks together to go there. Finally, I’m in charge of the sorting at the locker facility, and going to either a donation facility, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, or, for items that we think are better sold on eBay, having the cash donated. I would then take those items home, list them on eBay and then donate the cash.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

The long-term goal is just continuing to expand. Seeing what we’ve done already, we’ve made a very big impact. We’ve already donated $1,000 to Habitat for Humanity. We’ve donated an estimated tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of furniture to these charities. I think it’s just continuing to make that impact and not stopping, no matter what.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

I think the most rewarding part is at the end of the day, seeing that cleared locker and knowing that my volunteers and I made a big impact on that specific day. I think that that’s just a nice feeling. Seeing it in person after all that hard work, and getting rewarded with that feeling.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I think one of the best things I’ve learned is the power of getting multiple people in a space together and seeing the amazing stuff we could do. Clearing out these huge storage lockers in a relatively short period of time and making that big impact in a relatively short period of time. I think that’s kind of my biggest thing that I’ve learned–that multiple people can come together and do amazing things.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

I would say that you don’t need to know where you’re going immediately. You just need to keep pushing along and doing something that you love doing. If you do that, you will definitely be able to make a large impact in your community. Not specifically knowing from the start, but just trying to make an impact. Every single day is really what’s going to lead to large successes and being able to make that impact.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

Having a passion for something, you’re able to do amazing things in the end. You’re able to donate thousands of dollars in furniture and cash to local charities. I think that if you just continue to persevere, no matter what, you will eventually be successful. You’ll be able to make a big impact on your community.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Michael? Find local volunteer opportunities.