Volunteering at Habitat for Humanity

For the past few years I have volunteered off and on at my local Habitat for Humanity Restore. The Restore takes donations of household items such as furniture, appliances, and even decorations from the public. The store then sells those items at low rates to others in the community who could not otherwise afford those items. The profits made at the store are then used to construct houses through the Habitat for Humanity for low income families.

Before I began volunteering there in high school, I was unaware that the Habitat for Humanity Restore existed. I knew friends who had worked with Habitat for Humanity to build houses, but had not heard of anyone volunteering in their Restore. Physically building the houses with the Habitat for Humanity was not exactly a form of volunteering that appealed to me, so I was excited to find another way to help out the organization.

While volunteering there, I helped unload donations from the back of trucks, organize furniture and shelves, place prices on items, as well as help customers locate items that they were looking for. My shifts there were never dull because there was always something to do and new shipments of donations arriving multiple times a day. I made so many friends there who were volunteering alongside me who I would not normally have a chance to interact with otherwise.

Overall it was an amazing experience being able to be a volunteer there. It was amazing to see how many people were impacted by being able to buy essentials for their houses at a lower cost. Since many families could not afford to buy new items at the store, shopping at the restore was their only resort. I’m extremely thankful that my community has a resources like this since most second hand shops do not sell hardware and appliances for house. I loved being able to meet the people I was helping as well as the idea that the patrons who were shopping there were also helping since their money spent there was going towards building houses for low income families. I was thrilled to find out that volunteering there would fill my service requirement for the Honors Program at Stockton since it’s already a part of my life. It’s amazing to be able to continue to volunteer there and be able to see the progress I help make there over time.