Original Article from WNEP 16 by Kerry Kearns
MARSHALLS CREEK, Pa. — A new store opening next month in Monroe County aims to sell home improvement items and help the community by providing affordable housing opportunities.
The Habitat for Humanity ReStore will be the new shop being set up in Marshalls Creek.
“We have four big tractor-trailers full of equipment, furniture, supplies that we are hoping to sell to the community,” said Suzanne Young-Mercer with Monroe County Habitat for Humanity.
The store is located in the old Weis Market, which closed in 2018. Customers will be able to buy donated building materials and home goods. All the money raised will go back into the community by providing affordable housing.
“What we’d really like to do is to build, re-build, gut a home, build a home up, and provide someone with their first home. Because an affordable home is not available in Pennsylvania and certainly not in the Poconos,” added Young-Mercer.
Habitat needed many hands to set up the store. That is where the Weiler Abrasives group in Cresco stepped in. About sixty-five employees took the day to give back.
“We call it three C’s: Customers, Coworkers, and community, and we want to make sure that we spend some time giving back to the community while we have our team in town,” said Nate Schmidt from the Weiler Abrasives Group.
The company, headquartered in the Poconos, has locations all around the globe, and on Thursday, they have volunteers helping out from six different countries as well as across America.
Valentina Prapotnik is a product manager from Slovenia. She says volunteering is important for everyone.
“I think it’s not important just for Weiler; I think it’s important so that every person knows that we are people that need each other and that it really matters. And the most important thing is that we can help each other so that we can feel like we belong to each other and that we can make a better world for everyone.”
The Habitat for Humanity ReStore is aiming to open next month.