By Molly Lovell
Editor
     Though the shelves at Ruth’s Reusable Resources are slowly beginning to empty, don’t be fooled, there are still thousands of pounds of paper, furniture, markers, books and other supplies that need to find a home by the end of June.
     Owner Ruth Libby needs to vacate 3R’s current location at the old Bessey School by June 30 and raise nearly $700,000 to move into a new location in Portland.
     An undisclosed company has agreed to sell Libby a warehouse in the city as long as she can raise the money. Libby has to leave her current location because the town is making room for senior housing.
     Though Libby has seen an outpouring of financial support from communities throughout Maine, she doesn’t have a firm grasp on how much money has been raised thus far. Several large companies such as Idexx, Anthem and National Semi Conductor have said they will contribute to her effort, but such companies also have their own red tape to go through when it comes to actually cutting a check.
     “It also takes a while to set up meetings. I’m scheduled to meet with L.L. Bean, but that’s not until the end of June,” she said. Libby has been busy putting together information packages for companies who are interested in contributing as well as looking into bank financing if she can’t come up with the money through donations.
     Libby has also seen an increase in the donation of supplies, which she appreciates, but said raising funds is the primary focus of her efforts right now.
     Donations large and small have been trickling in, she said. Libby has received pledges in the amount of $10,000 and $20,000. This past Monday she received a check for $100 from Scarborough Brownie Troop 1736.
     Local radio station Coast 93.1 was on site Monday through Wednesday to hold a radio-thon rightly named, S.O.S.: Supply Our Schools. Disk jockey Tim Wright said he had never heard of Libby until he read about her plight in the local newspapers. He said Libby has been on the station’s morning show several times. “She’s facing a real crisis. She serves so many people, everyone either has kids or knows someone who has kids,” he said, adding that Libby provides a service that lessens the burden on taxpayers as well as promotes a “green” way of doing things.
     As of Wednesday morning, the radio-thon raised more than $10,000.
     Libby can’t say enough about the people who have sent in donations as they come from communities across the state. “It’s awesome to see how everyone is really pulling together. It’s not just one community, it’s all of these communities really seeing what we’ve been able to do,” she said.
     “(School) budgets are always going to be cut, and businesses will always have stuff to throw away. If we can just always have a place where the two can meet than it’ll be awesome.”
     3R’s began 13 years ago when Libby started gathering school supplies for her son who was in kindergarten at the time. Thirteen years later, Libby has distributed supplies to more than 700,000 students, placed 2,500 computers and allowed schools to have thousands of dollars of new classroom furniture.
     For the past four years Libby has been able to host area principals who are looking for new furniture. In the fall each principal who signs up for the program has 45 minutes to shop. Last year one school was able to get $25,000 worth of furniture. The shipment usually comes in June and Libby is worried about where she will put it if it comes in this year.
     Libby has definitely outgrown her current 8,500 square-foot space on Rte. One. She spends roughly $2,000 a month for self-storage units in Portland and she also stores supplies in 17 rented tractor trailer trucks, only one of which she owns.
     Last summer she received two trucks full of brand new office supplies and though she didn’t really have the space, she made it. “I can’t say no, I’ll store them in my front yard if I have to.”
     With a new, larger building, Libby hopes to offer a for profit membership store. “Opening it up for others would help pay utilities and maintenance of new building,” she said.
     Sometime next month she’s hoping to open up 3R’s to the public to sell some items. Details will be posted on her Web site, www.ruths.org. People can also make donations online.
     “I can’t be afraid we won’t raise the money, it would take too much away from positive thinking and it just makes too much sense what we do,” she said.