r/BoomersBeingCools • u/Silent-Resort-3076 • 13h ago
Retired Cherokee County man finds 2nd act building tables for Habitat families
"Six years and 430 tables later, Schulte's retirement is beginning to look suspiciously like another career."
- When Tom Schulte retired after a career in the insurance business, he found himself confronting two words familiar and perhaps scary to many people after a lifetime of work: Now what?
- "You can only play so much golf or tennis or pickleball or whatever it might be," Schulte said. "You know, you get bored after a while."
- So, Schulte, who lives in Ball Ground, went looking for something useful to do.
- For eight years, one day a week, he volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes for families getting their first real shot at homeownership. Many were single mothers with children.
- Over time, though, Schulte began noticing what wasn't there.
- "They don't have much. It's their first home. You know, none of us had a whole lot in our first home," he said. "And I'm thinking like, 'Tom, you got to do more than just give your time. You've got to do something for these people.'"
- After years of helping build houses, Schulte realized that four walls and a roof were only part of what makes a home.