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Monday Volunteer Group: Faithful Volunteers Make A Difference

Joe Mattison -- the leader of the Monday Volunteer Group -- is humble about the work and time the group devotes to the Habitat Spartanburg ReStore.

"We work hard -- we do whatever needs to be done, but we enjoy each other's company, too," Joe said. "We all see it as a way to give back to the ministry -- and to Spartanburg -- and we have these bonds now with one another."

The group formed about nine years ago when Dwight Pemberton and other members of First Presbyterian Church who were volunteers on the work site were looking for another way to help Habitat.

"We laugh and say we were getting too old, but there were things that needed to be done in the ReStore," Joe said.

On any given Monday, about 13 men and women meet at the ReStore and work building shelves, rearranging merchandise, testing appliances, hanging light fixtures and doing whatever needs to be done.

"We have three who work to arrange the books and another volunteer who works with pictures that come in," Joe said.
Jim Sawyers, and his wife Pat, are two of the volunteers. Pat works to arrange books and Jim works on small engines that have been donated that may not work, or need to be cleaned. Jim orders parts and replaces them so the lawn mowers, weedeaters and other equipment with small engines can be sold.

"What they do is wonderful," said ReStore Manager Joe Walker. "They're a great group of volunteers and they're always willing to do whatever needs to be done. They increase the value of our merchandise and make our lives easier."