By Andrew Szalay, Executive Director
By now you may have heard that we closed our ReStore at 155 Independence Court due to a possible COVID-19 exposure that turned into a positive test result. We are making sure that our volunteers, customers, and employees are safe so we will re-open the shop after our ReStore team quarantines and after the store has been professionally disinfected. We will reopen Tuesday, December 1st at 12 noon and return to our regular business hours the next day.
I’d like to take a moment to share the many changes Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity has made to protect our volunteers, donors, customers, and staff across all of our operations… from the office, ReStore, committees, and our construction sites. Our safety precautions include:
- Limited number of volunteers at construction sites, depending on size of the property, with a maximum of 5 people spread out inside a home at once.
- Limited number of customers permitted inside ReStore. Our store is rather large, so fortunately we haven’t had to turn people away.
- Masks to be worn at all times during all Habitat and ReStore-related activities (including all-day during construction, in the office, at the ReStore, etc).
- Meals, and even drinking fluids, are to be done privately outside the work space or individually in cars. We encourage people to eat efficiently and come back for some distant socializing – we know that fellowship fuels our work.
- Administrative and program staff are working remotely, and we upgraded our virtual meeting software. Staff and volunteers still visit the office to do necessary tasks, or meet in small groups distantly, of course, but only for brief periods of time.
- Committee meetings are being conducted exclusively virtually, as are homebuyer applicant visits.
We appreciate your support and understanding as our team works hard to keep our partners–and each other–safe and healthy. Please be sure to keep an eye on our website, as well as our Facebook pages, to learn about changes to our operations as they are implemented.