08/28/2026
🥹Sometimes the plans we make for our lives aren’t nearly as meaningful as the plans waiting for us.💚💙
More than 10 years ago, Gennifer never imagined that Northeast Texas Habitat for Humanity would become such an important part of her story.
In fact, Habitat wasn’t the plan at all.
“I actually went to school to be a dental assistant,” Gennifer shared. When that path didn’t work out, she found herself starting as a sales associate at the ReStore in 2015.
As she puts it simply: “God had different plans.”
Those different plans turned into more than a decade of service.
Gennifer went from sales associate to ReStore manager, eventually joining our Critical Repair Program, where for the past four years she has helped families throughout our community live more safely in their homes.
But ask Gennifer what she remembers most, and she won’t talk about job titles.
She’ll talk about people.
She’ll talk about the homeowners, volunteers, board members and coworkers who became friends and family. She’ll talk about watching lives change. And she’ll talk about what it meant to help someone regain something that can’t always be measured in dollars or construction materials.
“It’s being able to see and give those homeowners their dignity and their hope back, knowing that they’re now safer in their homes.”
That heart for serving others is what Jennifer has brought to Habitat every day.
“I’ve always been blessed in my own life,” she said. “So being able to come in and being able to return what I’ve been given over the years… is really the motivation for me to get up and come in here every day and just put in the work that’s needed to help those in our community.”
Now, as Gennifer moves on to her next adventure, saying goodbye isn’t easy—because after more than a decade, this was never just a job.
“I think that’s gonna be one of the hardest things, is the friends and the family that I’ve made since I’ve been here.”
Gennifer, thank you for every homeowner you encouraged, every family you served, every problem you helped solve and every bit of yourself you poured into this mission.
You may be leaving Northeast Texas Habitat, but your fingerprints will remain on homes, families and lives throughout our community for years to come.
And perhaps the best way to honor Gennifer’s time here is to listen to the advice she leaves behind:
Find somewhere to serve. Find somewhere to volunteer. Find a way to give back.
Because, as Gennifer reminded us, when you help change someone else’s life, “you’re gonna gain so much more from it than you even realize.”
Thank you for more than 10 incredible years, Gennifer.
We’re going to miss you, but we can’t wait to see where those “different plans” take you next.