New 2 You

Meet Jill and Rick, Tuesday and Saturday volunteers at the donation door. Hear in Jill’s words who they are, what they enjoy, and what a day volunteering at New 2 You looks like.

“Rick grew up in Niles, and I grew up in Kalamazoo. We both started working in the insurance industry here in Grand Rapids and actually began our jobs on the same day, though we didn’t meet until several years later. Rick and I eventually married and have built our life together here. Rick has one son, Kyle, and we have two grandchildren who live in Florida. We visit them as often as possible.

Outside of volunteering at New 2 You, we keep busy through traveling, looking for thrift stores to explore, doing puzzles together, and reading. We also like to stream foreign language mystery series, especially Norwegian mysteries!

We were made aware of New 2 You about a decade ago through my parents who volunteered here and talked about it all the time. My mom worked in the artwork department, and my dad worked in the electronics department and cashiered. When I first started volunteering, my mom wasn’t able to continue, but I came with my dad. At that time, I was cashiering once a week, and it grew from there. That was almost ten years ago.

After Rick retired a year and a half ago, he started working at New 2 You on a regular basis, too. Now we volunteer together at the donation door once a week and a couple Saturdays per month. We are also part of the Pack-and-Pickup crew, which is a packing service for Holland Home residents where donations get brought to New 2 You. It’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding.

We’ve seen New 2 You change a lot over the years. It has become much more popular with the public thanks to great marketing and customers coming back with their friends. Volunteers enjoy working at the store and many have worked here for decades—some even since New 2 You started in 2004! It’s a great place to work, we feel appreciated, and we have wonderful, creative leaders who are always thinking of ways to improve store operations.

Our favorite task is working at the donation door. We enjoy greeting our donors and hearing about their items. We hear a lot of stories! We are amazed at the things we see that come through the door every time we work. It’s so interesting! That’s why there’s no “typical” day at New 2 You—you never know what will be donated.

More than anything, we look forward to seeing coworkers at the store when we go in to volunteer. It’s great to form those relationships and learn about these folks and their families. We have a lot of fun.”

Thank you so much, Rick and Jill, for your ongoing commitment to New 2 You and for sharing your story!

Thank you, Herb, for your service in volunteering at Raybrook Holland Home’s “Mission Room!” And thank you, Al, for filling in Herb’s shoes as he retires from the role.

Before New 2 You opened in 2004, New 2 You established the Mission Room at Raybrook as a service for residents who are unable to drive to our store to donate. Here they can drop off small furniture or miscellaneous donations, and our New 2 You truck crew picks up the donations weekly. Each week, the Mission Room has sent anywhere from 20 to 100 boxes to the store. 

Herb was the first manager of the Mission Room and stayed in the role for six years. Then he picked it back up from 2021. Behind the scenes, Herb has been coming in every one to two days to box up loose items and organize them so they’re easier for the truck crew to pick up and easier for our volunteers at the store to process. Knowing that he’s making their jobs easier by creating a neat setup has been his favorite part of managing the location.

As Herb is retiring, Al is stepping in and is very excited to help. He has been a Holland Home resident for four years and regularly donates to New 2 You. He sees supporting the Grand Rapids Christian Schools as a very worthy mission and knows the value of the Mission Room to the store and Holland Home residents. 

Thank you so much, Herb and Al, for your faithful work behind the scenes.

If you’ve ever been to New 2 You on a Wednesday in the past 21 years, you’ve likely seen Dot and Henry. This couple has been volunteering on Wednesdays since we first opened in 2001, and they’ve played such a valuable role in our community!

Henry started as the Wednesday Day Manager, preparing the store to open at 10:00 a.m., filling manager responsibilities throughout the day, and then closing the store at 4:00 p.m. He loved helping customers find furniture that best fit their needs, which he still does today. Dot started as a cashier, moved to pricing housewares, and is most known in our community for always sorting, preparing, and pricing the socks. If you get lucky, you might see her decorated socks box labeled “Dot’s Sox.”

Dot and Henry are a sweet couple who are quite similar to each other and love being in one another’s company. They both grew up on farms in northern Michigan and started dating in high school. After they got married and Henry returned from the army after being drafted, they moved to Grand Rapids, where Henry got a job with Eikenhout and Sons, a distinguished distributor of roofing and building materials based in Michigan. Henry later became the owner of the business, and one of his three children is now the president. Along with their three children, Dot and Henry have nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, whom they love dearly.

Dot and Henry have been long-time supporters of Grand Rapids Christian Schools since sending their kids to the schools years ago. When they heard about plans to open New 2 You to support the school district, they came to the first meeting to hear more. When recalling what New 2 You was like in the beginning, Dot remembers a mountain of donated clothing that the store couldn’t handle. Gradually, managers and volunteers created systems, and key people brought their skills and expertise to help New 2 You grow into the blossoming store it is today. Dot and Henry have been significant contributors to that growth.

Dot and Henry love the Lord, and it shows in their everyday interactions with volunteers and customers. Each Wednesday morning, Dot reads a passage from the Bible that she feels the Spirit leading her to share. Over the course of a few months, she asked each Wednesday morning volunteer or staff member to share their favorite passage with her, which she would read during a later week. This is one of the ways she’s become true friends with those she volunteers alongside. “We’re like a family,” Dot shares.

Thank you, Dot and Henry, for 21 years of dedication and friendship! You both mean so much to us!