York College student turns class assignment into dedicated volunteerism

Tay Lingo has made giving of her time at the York Habitat for Humanity ReStore a priority in her busy schedule.

​In her bustling life as a full-time student at York College of Pennsylvania, a cheerleader, and a campus employee, Tay Lingo manages to carve out time for volunteering at York Habitat for Humanity. 

Tay, a Business Administration major with a minor in Advertising and Digital Marketing who expects to graduate in spring 2024, learned about York’s own Habitat for Humanity during a college leadership course.

​Assigned to volunteer for 16 hours, Tay chose to work at the York Habitat ReStore. She was familiar with Habitat ReStores from the one located in her hometown of Vineland, New Jersey, where she and her mother often purchased and upcycled pieces of furniture and household items.  

“It started as a bonding activity and then it just kept going,” Tay says of working on furniture projects with her mom.  

Making a tangible impact

Through her volunteering, Tay has experienced the Habitat ReStore from the other side of the cash register. That initial 16-hour commitment has turned into nearly 200 volunteer hours at the York Habitat ReStore.

What started as a course requirement has become a genuine passion for Tay, who wrote and presented a paper to her class about York Habitat’s and the ReStore’s impactful work. 

Along the way, she met and worked alongside fellow volunteers, many who were putting in their sweat-equity hours necessary to be able to move into their own York Habitat for Humanity home.  

Tay’s connection to York Habitat for Humanity goes beyond mere obligation. She loves knowing that she’s contributing to a cause where the impact is tangible. For her, it’s especially important that the work she’s doing, and the money made at the ReStore, has a direct and positive effect on building homes for those in need. 
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“I love this place. This is one place where, if you’re rounding up, it’s actually going to something good,” she says. “Here, I know it’s going to the houses. I know it’s actually helping somebody.”  

Making a move

When Tay began volunteering at the Habitat ReStore, it hadn’t yet moved to its current location at 463 S. Albemarle St. The new site was still a dusty, dark warehouse. As a volunteer, she spent many hours helping paint the break room and loading and unloading trucks with furniture and household goods during the warehouse-to-storefront transition.  

The thought of moving dozens of couches, tables, and desks from one building to another might have been a deal-breaker for many people, but not for Tay. A cheerleader since she was 3 years old, she is familiar with the rigors of lifting. When she’s not volunteering or attending classes, she often is at the gym, practicing cheers and throws as president of the York College Cheerleading Club. She takes joy from each of those experiences. 

 “I don't try to fit anything in; I just let it fall into place. I don’t try to force anything,” she says.  

Motivated and inspired by her 93-year-old grandmother, Miss Annie, a longtime community leader back in Vineland, and by the memory of her late dog, Chaos, Tay finds solace and purpose in giving back to her community. She plans to volunteer as long as she can.  
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“I’ve met wonderful people,” she says of her time at the York ReStore. “I’ve had the opportunity to not only meet them but know their story, how long they’ve been working for Habitat, a little bit of their background, and really become close with them.”