We’re looking for volunteers!

Our volunteers are so special to us and to this organization. Habitat for Humanity is volunteer driven and without our fantastic volunteers, our mission wouldn’t be possible. Because of our volunteers, we have been able to build 51 homes, and 10 critical home repairs! We are able to bless so many in our community because of generous hearts and helping hands!  

Something I hear a lot is - “I’d love to volunteer, but I don’t know how to build houses” and “I’m just afraid I wouldn’t be useful in the store.” Everyone is useful in the ReStore! There are so many different tasks that are all equally important to keep our store up and running. We need people to help take in donations when they come in, to clean and organize the merchandise, help put priced items on the floor, assist with writing tickets for shoppers and pointing them toward the items they’re looking for.

We love our volunteers like family and every day they’re here is a great day. If you want to join our Habitat family, please give us a call at (662) 329-2501!

Meet Donation Ambassador Emily!

 Hello, everyone! 

My name is Emily Ferguson. I began working with the Habitat ReStore as a Donation Ambassador in July, and I have enjoyed it so much! As you may have noticed, we have two Emilys who work here. Ms. Joy even started calling me Emily 2, and our wonderful store manager Emily 1 haha. Either way, we both look up and are ready to help any time someone says Emily. 

As a Donation Ambassador, I am grateful to able to meet so many of our donors along with our customers. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I accompany Kalib or Matthew on pick-ups for the donations that won't fit in standard vehicles. We are blessed to have our box truck, which helps us to retrieve the donations that people want to give us but cannot drop off themselves, such as couches, cabinets, and tables, just to name a few. By going out to the donors homes, I feel like we are able to further connect with the people who keep this store thriving. Each donation counts and helps so much toward the building of our Habitat homes, and I love being able to personally thank each donor for their contributions. 

For anyone interested,  we are available to pick up those larger donations every Monday -Wednesday 9am-3pm. Just give us a call to schedule your time, and we will be more than happy to come pick it up. We appreciate all the support our community gives, both through donations and through shopping. We look forward to serving you, and I look forward to meeting more of our Habitat family! 

God bless you!  

Emily F., ReStore Donation Ambassador

Joy's Happy-tat!

We were so happy to give Ms. Joy the keys to her brand new Habitat home on September 10th! She was very rightly named because whenever she is around, joy fills the room, and Thursday afternoon was no exception. To see the sheer happiness on her face as she went into her home for the first time is something everyone there will remember and cherish forever. 

We cannot thank everyone who helped make this possible enough, but we will surely try! We would like to give a special thanks to -

Tony Dunser from True Grit who painted the beautiful red doors and the trim

Savage Tree Service

Mike Williams who did the electrical work

Baldwin Sand and Gravel

Brandon Dozier and Curt Schumacher for helping removing the large tree in the backyard

Lighting Unlimited 

Grass Pro Plus for doing the landscaping

Shane Glasgow

Parker Drywall

Paint Magic

Sqwincher

Rock Bottom Furniture 

Thank you to all the volunteers who worked countless weekends at the job site, our Board Members, ReStore Volunteers and staff, and of course thank you to our fabulous donors and shoppers! You all are the reason this ministry can help provide affordable housing to our homeowners!

Ms. Joy's home will always hold a very special place with me because it was the first home built with me as the new Store Manager, and Joy has become a very dear friend to everyone in the store. It is a great honor to be a part of something that is bettering the lives of others in our community.

God bless you all.

-Emily Godwin, ReStore Manager

Thursday and Friday in the ReStore

 

Hey, everyone! I decided to combine the Thursday and Friday posts because a lot of the same things happen while we are open to the public for sales.

Thursday morning is when we make all the puzzle pieces lock together. From the time we get into the store at 8:00 until we open the doors at 12:00, we stay busy putting final touches on displays, double checking prices on the smaller items, and pricing the large furniture items on the floor. Something a lot of people don’t know is that we research every item that has any kind of identifier on it. If it has brand name on it, we look up that company and then take a considerable amount off the online price.

Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before we open the doors, we get together as a team. We discuss what each person will be doing in the store while we’re open, discuss any updates on the houses we’re building, and we always close it with a prayer of thanks to the Lord for all the many blessings this ministry continues to see. Once the doors are open, the staff and volunteers go to work helping shoppers. Everyone here has such a passion for helping others and that energy is so contagious that you can’t help smiling when you’re here.

Some things have changed since I took over as store manager, but one thing that will never change is how grateful we are for every shopper and donor that comes to our store. Each of you are such a blessing to us, and we love seeing you guys every week.

 

-Emily Godwin, ReStore Manager.

Wednesday at the ReStore

Wednesday is the busiest day of the week for us here at the ReStore! It's the day the store transforms from a work-in-progress to the beautifully displayed store that you all see Thursdays at 12! It takes a lot of hard work from a lot of people to make it all go as smoothly as it does every week. We are extremely blessed to have such talented volunteers!

Most of the staging in the store is done by two very special volunteers. Shirley and Jennifer come every Wednesday to work their magic in every area of the store. They have such an amazing eye for what works together and how to create and improve the look of every vignette! One of the biggest compliments we get here is how beautiful the store looks, and we make sure to pass that on to them!

On Wednesdays, we have a flawless team in the back working on pricing and putting the merchandise out on the floor. Ms. Barbara, Ms. Deborah, and Ms. Bronwyn are three of our main Wednesday volunteers who help the staff clean, price, and get the donations on the shelves. They all work fabulously as a team, and the ReStore is always a happier place with such wonderful volunteers.

The Assistant ReStore Managers - Chelcee and Matthew -  and our Donation Ambassadors - Kalib, Emily, and Diane - help to make sure that the store is organized and that everything is running smoothly. They take in donations, place furniture, clean the store, and overall help wherever help is needed. Occasionally, we work in a few donation pick-ups on Wednesdays, but we try to stay in store as much as possible because of how much has to happen so quickly! 

We've never had a dull day at the store, and I doubt we ever will! That's what makes working here so much fun!

-Emily Godwin, ReStore Manager.

Tuesday at the ReStore

 Tuesdays are the ReStore are much more fast-paced than Mondays. We try to schedule are largest pick-ups on Tuesdays to make sure we have the large items in the store and ready for the volunteers who help stage the store. This week, we had a donation so large that it took two trips to get it all! I find we are never in short supply of blessings at the Habitat ReStore.

Our Donation Ambassadors spend the majority of Tuesdays out of the store. We fit in as many donation pick-ups as possible on Day 2. Some times we have up to 6 or 7 scheduled in a day. So, if you see the Habitat truck out, make sure to say hi to Kalib, Emily, and Matthew. They are always out on the road picking up great new merchandise!

Inside the store, the volunteers and staff members are working hard to get the new items cleaned and priced. Today they put out 30 shopping carts full of merchandise! With all the hard work being done, it can get a little messy in the store as the new merchandise waits to be processed, but it doesn't bother us. Having a hard time figuring out where to put the items is never a bad problem to have - it's a blessing! 

In between pick-ups and processing, we organize the shelves, work on mark-downs, and test any product that needs to be tested. While organizing, we make sure that no sets of merchandise have been separated and that they aren't due for a price reduction. Price reductions vary on how long the item has been in the store and how many of the item we have it. Our staff and volunteers have been trained to spot when it is time to slash the price and give it a new one.

We also work on disassembling old displays and deciding what items to feature this week instead. It's always fun trying to decide which pieces will look good together and what item makes the look whole! 

Tuesdays are fast-paced, but they're not nearly as action-packed as Wednesdays! Make sure you check back in here tomorrow after we post the Weekly Walk-Through to see how we make the store transform!

-Emily Godwin, ReStore Manager.

Mondays at the ReStore

 Hi, everyone! I decided to do something a little different and post every day this week. I thought it might be fun for you guys to see how we do things during the week to get the store ready for shoppers on Thursday afternoon!

One of the funnest things about working in the ReStore is that every week is a little different. We never know what is going to come through the door or what the Donation Ambassadors may bring back from a pick up. While we may follow the same formula every week, the end result always comes out different. However, thanks to our fantastic volunteers, the results are always beautiful.

Mondays are typically a slower day in the store. The staff members will pull all the large items that sold over the weekend to one area of the store so when their new owners come to pick them up, it's all ready to go. A lot of people have made comments about how we must have furniture stored in the back somewhere to replace all the items that have sold, but we don't! All the furniture we have is on the floor Thursday at noon for everyone to see! We may move things around in the store to display, but nothing is taken out of the back. The Donation Ambassadors start on Monday going out in the community to pick up furniture, boxes of home goods, building supplies, and much more! So all the new things you see during the Sale Hours are all new merchandise!

We do, however, have some  boxes of home goods in the back. We are so blessed by your donations that we can't always get the smaller stuff on the floor the week it comes in, but that doesn't stop us from trying! Every day that we are here, we have at least one person pricing merchandise in our stock room. Monday we start opening more boxes and preparing the merchandise to be priced. If anything needs cleaning, we take it to the kitchen to run it through the dishwasher to be washed good as new. We also bring more boxes of the Christmas items we have stored to be processed, priced, and put on the shelves. 

On days we're not open to the public, we sometimes have up to five people working hard to ensure new merchandise is available every day!

Thank you all so much for believing in our mission to end poverty housing. Every time you donate or shop with us, it helps us save toward building the next house for a person in need! We appreciate each and every one of  you!

-Emily Godwin, ReStore Manager