Raleigh, NC Retailer Porto Raises Funds For Habitat Wake County

Furniture World Magazine

Porto, a fine home furnishings and accessories store in Raleigh’s North Hills, raised over $12,000 during its first annual fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity of Wake County, which was held in the store in November. The fundraiser began last September when Porto owners Emily Cash, Michael Perry, and Clark Hipolito decided to celebrate the store’s second year in the home furnishings business by actively supporting the organization that supplies homes for people who wouldn’t have them otherwise. “This just seemed fitting and natural for us,” said Perry. As advocates of local artists, the partners also wanted to celebrate the role art plays in advancing the community’s cultural and social development, and to align that role with the extraordinary contribution Habitat makes to society. From these considerations, the idea evolved for an art auction entitled “The Passage To Civilized Living,” which is the store’s slogan. Porto asked select area artists to “recycle” old doors from Habitat/Wake County’s ReUse Center into original works of art. The partners chose doors because “porto” means door or passageway in Italian. They chose used doors because “as a business, we have always made it a point to support efforts towards environmental stewardship,” Perry noted, “and this was a way to demonstrate a very creative use of recycled building materials.” The ReUse Center, which supports Habitat for Humanity of Wake County by selling new and salvaged building materials to the public at discounted prices, donated the doors. The 15 participating artists were allowed to choose any door they wanted from the Center’s vast assortment. The doors-turned-artwork were then displayed in various locations around the city for a month before being auctioned off during a gala event in the storethat included food and wine donated by some of the city’s finest restaurants, and live music by the Steve Hobbs Jazz Quartet. Radio personality Bob Langford served as auctioneer. The winning bids ranged from $250 for a small kitchen cabinet door to $2500 for a full-sized, raised panel door. Seventy-five percent of the sales went to Habitat. The artists retained 25 percent of their individual door’s selling price. "Habitat Wake is thrilled to work with Porto and is grateful to all of the artists for giving their time and talent so that others can get a hand-up to a better future," said Debbi Fox-Davis, major gifts officer for Habitat/Wake County. According to the Porto partners, next year’s gala/art auction will also involve materials from Habitat’s ReUse Center, although they haven’t decided which type yet. Porto is located at 4151 Main at North Hills. For more information on the store or “The Passage to Civilized Living” fundraiser visit www.portohome.com