Store diverts waste from landfills with little shop of wonders

By Russell Nichols 

Everything — and everyone — that comes through the doors of the ReCreate Craft Thrift Store and Studio leaves transformed. In the shopping center off Lonetree Boulevard in Rocklin, this little shop of wonders collects tons of usable yet discarded scraps from local businesses for crafters to upcycle into unique, handmade creations.

“It smells like hot glue and imagination,” says Vitoria Villalobos, ReCreate’s special projects coordinator. “It’s truly a magical place. You feel the creativity.”

Imagine! Then Create! summons a sign in the store window.

Upon entering, you step into the studio, greeted by tables, cabinets and bins full of materials: glue, scissors, paints, ribbons, corks, mason jars, buttons, stamps, egg cartons. From color-coordinated fabric cubbies to the yarn corner, everything is organized. Art sculptures are everywhere. A mural made of cardboard. A massive owl head with wide, curious eyes. A snarling, sea-green Tyrannosaurus rex crafted from a two-by-four wrapped in bubble wrap and USPS packing materials, then shaped with a heat gun.

“Having students learn through trial and error builds perseverance and creativity,” says ReCreate Founder Donna Sangwin. “Working with cast-off items is incredibly freeing — students take more risks because they aren’t worried that they will break something or waste valuable materials.”

Each year, ReCreate diverts about 65 tons of material from entering landfills, according to the nonprofit organization. Available for purchase in the thrift store, items are sold below market prices. The staff also recycles diverted materials in ReCreate’s education program and for use in the maker studio.

It was in 2008 — amid school budget cuts and slashed arts funding — that Sangwin formed ReCreate. She noticed excess waste in the corporate sector and, inspired by a nonprofit in Santa Barbara, repurposed materials for students, creating the More Art, Less Waste program. The organization has since evolved into three parts: the More Art, Less Waste education initiative; the Reuse Store and Creative Maker Studio (where crafters can drop in for $8.50 per hour); and the Genius Mobile Program, which delivers hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning to schools and events in the greater Sacramento region.

For Sangwin, the most fulfilling part of ReCreate has been offering hands-on learning inspired by the Maker Education initiative, empowering students to explore and improve the world while equipping educators with essential tools and resources.

The education program came in especially handy during COVID for Sarah Patterson, a second-grade teacher at George Cirby Elementary. Pandemic restrictions halted off-site field trips, so the ReCreate team visited her school to teach a lesson on light using CDs. This year, the school reached out to ReCreate again for a lesson on matter. The kids built boats out of foil and experimented floating them with various items like yarn and magnets. They tested how many things they could load before the boats sank.

With rising prices and logistics for school trips becoming more difficult, Patterson says, ReCreate filled a critical gap by bringing hands-on creativity to the classrooms.

“It’s really hard to find field trips in connection with our standards locally,” says Patterson, who has been teaching for 24 years. “If we go too far, we can’t afford the buses … so it’s nice to have someone come on-site and provide in-house field trips.”

After bringing programs to more than 150,000 students, Sangwin retired in 2023. Currently on the ReCreate board, she has time to make and craft herself, she says, “throwing pottery and sewing.” 

The “trash-to-treasure” tradition has continued with Executive Director Emily Carroll. After coming aboard last July, she explains, many things inspire her about this job: making art more accessible to the community, bringing resources and inspiration to students and schools, and inspiring people to create while reducing consumption and landfill waste.

“Looking to the future, I envision a strong community focus, with classes and community-building events where people feel a sense of belonging,” Carroll says. “I envision ReCreate as a pillar in the community where artists, students, educators, and all members of the community who resonate with our mission can come together to create art, reduce and reuse, and get inspired to continue making.”

“All members” includes grown-ups, who often rediscover the joy of crafting within the colorful confines of ReCreate’s studio. Over the past year, while working there, Villalobos has observed many adults coming in, whether by chance or with children, and reconnecting with a long-lost spark of creativity.

“Parents will bring their kids and they end up finding that joy again,” says Villalobos, who is pursuing her master’s degree and plans to be a teacher. “They go off and make their own projects. Or we have adults of all ages, who just happened upon the store. … They say, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with this, but I’m going to make something.’ It reactivates that spirit of creativity for anyone who walks in.”

This story is part of the Solving Sacramento journalism collaborative. Solving Sacramento is supported by funding from the James Irvine Foundation and James B. McClatchy Foundation. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19.