Senior Volunteer Kevin Gapstur helps lift entire community through York ReStore

With decades of hands-on experience and a heart for service, the York Habitat for Humanity worker helps turn donated items into opportunities for a better life.

It’s a typical Tuesday as a York Habitat for Humanity truck backs up to the garage-style doors at the York ReStore. Senior Volunteer Kevin Gapstur is on hand to assess the latest donated treasures for sales-floor worthiness at the shop.  

Kitchen cabinets, loveseats, table lamps, and chandeliers are lined up for inspection. Kevin spends the afternoon replacing sofa legs, repairing cabinet corners, and assembling flat-pack beds. A natural teacher, he coaches other volunteers at the store through projects they didn’t realize they could tackle.  

For Kevin, his decades of volunteering haven’t been about recognition. They’ve been about showing up and putting his skills to work in ways that help lift a whole community.  
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“I like doing what I do here,” he says. “You never know what’s going to come through the door in terms of the donations.” 

From the Twin Cities to York

Since moving to York in 2019, Kevin has become a familiar face at the ReStore and a steady presence within York Habitat for Humanity, lending his time, experience, and leadership wherever they’re needed. 

His connection to Habitat for Humanity began long before he and his wife arrived here. He was involved with the organization in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. 

“I volunteered through different organizations, churches, things like that, building homes,” he says. 
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Most of his volunteer hours before coming east were spent on construction sites. After he moved, the days he was available to volunteer didn’t match construction schedules. So he connected with the ReStore team and began volunteering just as the store was coming into existence about seven years ago. 
Kevin joined the Restore Planning Committee and helped set up the original York ReStore, then oversaw the move to its current location on South Albemarle Street.  

Putting experience ahead of titles

​Beyond his weekly volunteer hours at the ReStore, Kevin serves on Habitat’s Board of Directors and chairs the ReStore Committee.  

On the sales floor, he keeps it simple.  

“My everyday title is just a Senior Volunteer, not because of my age, but because of my experience,” he jokes.  

Since retiring after a nearly 30-year career at IBM, Kevin has found a meaningful way to support his community while using skills he’s honed over a lifetime. The work is different every day as Habitat continues its overall mission to provide safe, decent, affordable housing. 

Small fixes lead to lasting results

Building display racks and repairing furniture fill much of Kevin’s volunteer hours, but what he really enjoys is seeing people realize their capabilities and their dreams. 

Through the ReStore, he has met soon-to-be Habitat homeowners who are putting in sweat-equity hours on their homes and furnishing them.  

Those moments reveal the success of Habitat’s broader goal, which extends well beyond ReStore sales. Stable housing for families of any economic status supports health, education, and opportunity and creates ripple effects that can last for generations. 
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“I like the idea of everybody gets lifted up when somebody gets lifted up,” he says. “It’s not only good for the people that are in the houses but it’s good for the entire community.”