My Experience Volunteering With Habitat for Humanity
In September of 2000, I joined the Jimmy Carter Work Project, a weeklong yearly event where former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn give their time and their building skills to build affordable housing for those in need. During this week, thousands of volunteers from around the world converged on West 134th Street in Harlem to complete a 10-unit apartment building, as well as lay the groundwork for another thirty homes in Harlem and Brooklyn. At the end of the week, tears came to my eyes as I witnessed ten families receive the keys to their first home, knowing that somehow, I played a small part in the realization of their dreams of becoming homeowners.
Following this experience, I continue to donate my time to help build homes with Habitat in Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. I have they joy of seeing firsthand neighborhoods transform before my eyes, as abandoned graffiti riddled lots and boarded up shops are replaced with newly painted homes.
Over the past few years, my construction skills evolved from laughable to doable. Presently, I am in training to become a skilled volunteer, and hopefully some day I may serve as a crew leader, teaching others the same skills I never thought I could ever master. Also, I became involved in Habitat’s Women’s Build, a program where women assume total responsibility for the construction of a Habitat house.
The mission of Habitat is simple – through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, they build and rehabilitate simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner “partner” families. Habitat prides itself on being a hand up, not a hand out. Homeowners must invest hundreds of hours of their own labor called “sweat equity” into building their Habitat house and the houses of others. All Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit, financed with affordable, no-interest loans. Then, the homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build more Habitat houses.
As Roland Lewis, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity-New York City noted, “Even though Habitat is recognized worldwide as an ecumenical Christian organization, we try to be as inclusive and welcoming to people from all religious and ethnic backgrounds.” The programs and places where Habitat-NYC builds best exemplify their drive for diversity. Mr. Lewis feels their work sites must be a common ground where all New Yorkers can contribute and speak through their actions for the cause of decent affordable housing. By encouraging diversity both throughout the organization and on the worksite, Roland believes they can convert this common ground into sacred ground, thus creating a breeding ground for the cause of social justice.
Since 9-11, Habitat-NYC has strived to be an avenue through which people of all different faiths, particularly the great monotheistic faiths – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – can come together to find a common ground and do something constructive to rebuild a sense of community. Mr. Lewis believes at the core of these great faiths, there’s a love of humanity and that the evilness of an event like 9-11 is hopefully an aberration that does not represent any genuine religious movement.
Emily White, one of Habitat for Humanity-NYC’s former AmeriCorps volunteers, enjoyed watching family partners really come together as a community. She related a story where one of the families in the Bronx just had a baby that was expected. The other families pitched in and worked extra hours for her, so the entire group could move into their houses together and on time. As Emily proclaims, “it’s not just housing we’re building but it’s really building the community as well.”
Since it’s founding in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller, Habitat for Humanity International has built more than 150,000 houses around the world, providing more than 750,000 people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter
To get involved in building affordable housing in your community, log on to http://www.habitat.org/local/ to find your nearest affiliate. Habitat is a worldwide, grass roots movement with more than 2,100 active affiliates in 92 countries, including all 50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.
