If you’ve ever been to the Williston ReStore, you’ve definitely seen Lynn on the floor restocking the jewelry case or display. She has such a friendly energy and is always wearing at least one dazzling jewelry item.
For the past seven years, she has been volunteering at the Williston ReStore several days a week. Lynn started out pricing our donations and putting inventory on the sales floor, and now she manages the jewelry section.
“My favorite part of jewelry is meeting the people who come by the jewelry area. I love having conversations with them and hearing their stories that relate to jewelry, like stories of their grandmas, or family members. For others, it’s being in the military, serving overseas, and picking up jewelry when they were overseas,” she explains. “Hearing the legacies of people who have interests for all different reasons and what jewelry represents to them is my favorite part.”
Lynn’s passion for jewelry and the stories that each piece holds is evident in how organized her desk is and how she carefully arranges the displays in the case.
She also enjoys getting to work with the staff and other volunteers every day. “The people who work here are absolutely fantastic. One of the wonderful surprises about volunteering with Habitat for Humanity is friendships that develop,” she explained.
Lynn loves the work she does at the ReStore, but the mission is fundamentally what continues to bring her back each and every week.
When Lynn retired from her job at the University of Vermont, she took a while to decide what she how to spend her time. She wanted to ensure that she found the perfect fit. Then, she found the Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
“I will tell you fundamentally, it’s the mission of Habitat for Humanity, period. It’s the mission that drives me to be here,” she says. “As a lifelong Vermonter, I know how critical it is for people to have affordable housing, and for us to be able to work toward recycling, reusing, and repurposing.”
She knows that the work she does is benefiting not only our local community, but also the state of Vermont and the environment as a whole.
Just as each earring, ring, necklace, bracelet, or brooch holds its own memories before it was donated, each piece of jewelry from our Williston ReStore is also written in Lynn’s story.
