Habitat for Humanity ReStore: in the garden

Habitat volunteers spend four hours in the ReStore garden transferring seedlings and weeding.

Allyson May (’22) helps weed the community garden at the Habitat ReStore.

Volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore usually consists of stocking shelves, cleaning up the store, and organizing items. However, this time, six Habitat volunteers ventured into a garden. Over the past nine years, the Habitat ReStore in New Port Richey transformed a parking lot behind the store into a 0.5 acre garden. Volunteers who give their time to the ReStore spend their hours transferring seedlings into larger pots, harvesting fruit from various trees, and weeding community gardens. The vegetables and fruit produced by this garden are sold at local markets to fund the store. New Port Richey is the only ReStore that has a garden, but it is a part of the community in which people can make their own garden in the reserved spaces, and those receiving a home can get their volunteer hours in the garden.