Unemployed volunteers giving back

MONROE, Mich. - With thousands of people unemployed, some laid off workers are using their spare time helping others.

In Monroe County, Mich., hundreds have volunteered and contine to volunteer their services to Habitat for Humanity. In the past year or two, the non-profit has also seen an increase of those who are out of work lending a hand to the organization.

Out of the hundreds who were volunteering Thursday at a house on Adams Street in Monroe, nearly a dozen are currently unemployed. Bruce Johnson, who worked for a steel manufacturing company for 30 years, was recently laid off in March. Volunteering, though, is giving him a chance to give back.

"I hope to go back after the first of the year," he said. "If worse comes to worse I have to find another job, this should help."