Habitat for Humanity Restore celebrates 11th anniversary with community appreciation day

Celebrating 11 years in Pocatello, the Habitat for Humanity Restore is looking back and saying thanks to the community for all they’ve done.

“We just wanted to thank Pocatello for supporting us over the years, they’re really the biggest part of what we do,” store manager Katie Counts said. “Without the people coming in, shopping at our store, we wouldn’t be able to have built 16 homes, or remodeled 16 homes in the community and changed people’s lives.”

On Saturday, the store hosted a customer appreciation day in conjunction with their 11th-anniversary celebration. Food, drink and even a petting zoo brought people in, as the store thanked them for helping achieve more than a decade of work in the Gate City.

The event was truly community centered, with many local businesses like Grease Monkey, Geraldine’s and Jimmy Johns, among others, helping out.

“We’ve tried to involve as many people in the community as possible,” Counts explained. “Everybody wants to give back and thank their customers in their own special way and this was a really good way for them to do that and help us as well.”

And according to Katie, the event was a huge success.

“Everybody has loved what we have set up, they’ve enjoyed the food. It’s a nice little change from normally coming into the store and just having a cup of coffee, so they’ve really enjoyed it. The kids are loving the face painting and the petting zoo. So it’s a lot of fun.”

The store remained open for regular business during the event as they continue to try and help the community, even as they celebrate it.

“We are fully functional…everything is for sale, come on in and shop.”

And Katie’s favorite part of the day?

” I think the petting zoo, definitely.”