WHAT: 30th Anniversary Open House

WHEN: Friday, Dec. 4, 3-5 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

WHERE: Everyone's Resource Depot, Education Center, University of Maine at Farmington

FARMINGTON — Fourth-grader Alden Thompson Vought of Farmington has a landslide project to complete for a Cascade Brook School class.

Looking for inexpensive materials for the project, Vought and his mother, Clarissa Thompson, browsed the aisles of Everyone's Resource Depot just as many teachers, students and community members have done over the past 30 years.

The Depot will celebrate its 30th anniversary with an open house Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4 and 5. Board members invite the public to join the celebration from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Education Center at High and Lincoln streets on the University of Maine at Farmington campus.

Long before terms like green, sustainable and reduce, reuse, recycle became part of the everyday vocabulary, a group of community and college members in Farmington began looking for a way to focus attention on reusing good items while also promoting recycling and reducing waste, Depot coordinator Mary Ryan said.

"There were no community recycling programs at the time," she said. "There was no Sandy River Recycling. Everything was taken to the dump and buried."

The group shared a concern that there was no way to get rid of things that were perfectly good. They modeled a program in Portland, Creative Resource Center, and opened the Depot in Franklin Hall in early December 1979, she said.

The model promoted charging a small amount for the reusable supplies rather than offering memberships and opening it up to everyone, she said.

Everything is donated but the Depot charges as little as 1 cent as a reminder that it's not all free, she said. There are expenses although UMF provides space and utilities.

"They've made it possible for ERD to last 30 years," she said. "Students and faculty use it a lot and what we do is important — it fits into UMF's education effort."

The Depot moved from the Franklin Hall basement into a light, airy space in the new "green" Education Center when it opened.

In the early days, staff visited local businesses to see what they were throwing away that someone else could use. Items such as paper, leather, wood turnings, dowels and more become learning games and craft items.

"Things have changed. There are no large industries like Bass, Forster's or the wood turning mills left so the inventory is different," she said.

People know the Depot is here and call offering items, she said, such as long hard-plastic tubes by a local architect, and a collection of odorless, sturdy cigar boxes from another.

"Someone probably saved the cigar boxes for years but now these would make a great treasure box for a child to decorate for a Christmas present," she said.

Along with selling reusable items, the Depot has taught the reuse of home items through regular workshops for adults and children.

Ryan became coordinator in the spring of 1980. A teacher by training, she loves interacting with the students, problem-solving and planning creative solutions with a variety of items, she said.

The private, nonprofit organization is led by a 20-member board made up of community and campus members. Its new Web site is http://resourcedepot.umf.maine.edu

abryant@sunjournal.com