Retired Cherokee County man finds 2nd act building tables for Habitat families

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.

He thought about something most of us rarely think twice about: a kitchen table.

"It clicked," Schulte said. "I'll build a table. I'm going to give it to these Habitat families."

Four legs and a flat top may not sound revolutionary, but to Schulte, a table represents something much bigger: a place for a family to gather, eat, talk, and simply be together.

That idea became Your Family's Table.

Schulte builds the tables himself, then he and his wife load them into a custom trailer and crisscross Georgia in their own truck, delivering them to Habitat homeowners.

"I love delivering tables, but when I knock on somebody's door to deliver a table, I've never met them," Schulte said. "I have no clue what I'm walking into."

What he hopes he delivers is more than furniture.

"Every family has problems," Schulte said. "But if you sit at the table and talk about it, you know, it'll help keep that family together. And if we did it for one family, we won, right?"

The tables come with seating. They also come with a basket and a purpose that isn't immediately obvious.

"We give them a basket to put on their table, and I show them the basket, and they look at it. 'Oh, that's a nice touch,'" Schulte said.  "And I say, 'OK, you're thinking about apples and bananas to put in the basket.' I say, 'When you sit at the table, that's where your phone goes.'"

The idea is simple: Put the devices away, pause social media, and make room for face-to-face family conversation.

Six years and 430 tables later, Schulte's retirement is beginning to look suspiciously like another career.

But this one isn't about earning a paycheck.

"It's all about giving back," he said. "You can't turn your back on the needs that are there in Atlanta and, well, everywhere."

Before each table leaves his shop, Schulte signs the bottom: "Your Family's Table."

Then, another table heads to another home, another family and, Schulte hopes, a gathering place for years of meals, homework, celebrations and conversations that haven't happened yet.