The mission statement of Habitat for Humanity is simple: " ... provide simple, decent places to live for families who cannot afford a home by conventional means, through building and rehabilitating houses in partnership with the community and prospective homeowners."
Accomplishing that mission is difficult. Habitat for Humanity needs help. It depends on volunteers and contributions. And there will never be a point at which it has more than what it needs to accomplish the mission. There is always work to be done. And not all of the work involves constructing homes. There are many areas in which people can volunteer their time and services. And financial support is always needed and appreciated.
The volunteers for Habitat for Humanity come from all walks of life. Former president Jimmy Carter became a volunteer in 1984, and continues to strongly support the program.
These men are volunteers from Colorado Springs Utilities, working on the electrical fixtures of a home. This is their time off work from their regular jobs, but they volunteer their time to help Habitat for Humanity. That is the beautiful thing about this organization. There are so many people willing to help.
One of the areas in which I am volunteering is in construction. I want to get the hands-on experience of what building a Habitat home is like. I want to learn as many skills as I can. But before you can work on building a home, you must attend an orientation. That is what I was doing on Saturday morning. It was a good orientation to Habitat for Humanity. We learned about the history of Habitat, the projects that it has completed, its future goals, what goes into completing a Habitat home, and so much more.
Each volunteer was given a Handbook, the latest issue of the publication Habitat World, and the latest issue of the Pikes Peak for Humanity newsletter: Tools to Help You Build Homes & Hope in Colorado Springs.
That is Aimee Liotino in the white shorts. She is the Volunteer Coordinator for Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity - the person who gave the orientation.
It is up to the volunteers to contact Habitat when they would like to work on a project. There are also committees on which one can work.
One of the first things I noticed was that it wasn't just one isolated home that was being built. It was a community in which several homes had already been built, and several more were under construction. Families were already living in some of the homes. It is in a very nice neighborhood in Stetson Hills, in the northeast part of Colorado Springs.
We were told that the house on the very end was completed in just 3 days. It was a project that was done with the cooperation of many people and organizations.
We had the opportunity to walk through a house and see how much is involved. These houses are very well built. The future homeowners will have some options as to what goes into their home, but for the most part their options are limited to what they will basically need. 
On average it takes 21 weeks to build a home. And that of course depends on favorable weather, working conditions, the number of volunteers available to serve, etc. There is something for everyone: men and women, young and old, although the minimum age to work on construction is 16. In the photo on the left you can see men working on the roof of a home. In the photo on the right a Habitat volunteer is painting the interior. There are all types of jobs that one can do.
These homes are not handouts. The people who will live in these homes pay for them. And they do not sit on the sidelines and wait for their homes to be built. They work right along with the volunteers from Habitat to help construct their homes. That is one of the requirements: "sweat equity". In this photo you can see a family busy at work on the construction of their home. In a few months the house will be completed and they will share in the pride of contributing to the construction of their home. It's a great sense of pride for the Habitat volunteers as well.
When it is completed it will look something like this house. A tree has been planted in the front - something that all of these homes will be given.
It will be an affordable home, in a nice neighborhood, for a deserving family.
Habitat for Humanity not only needs help, they need families to occupy these homes. If you know of someone in need of affordable housing, refer them to Habitat for Humanity. And if you would like to volunteer, contact the Habitat for Humanity chapter in your region.
Just a reminder: The annual Hike for Habitat is next weekend in Colorado Springs.
There is much that you can do to help Habitat for Humanity with its mission. Habitat for Humanity builds more than just houses. Habitat builds:
- communities
- families
- pride and self-esteem
- futures
- hope
The sign reads:
Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity
"Building Homes ... Building Lives"
Join Us, We Need Your Help
You can be a part of that.
Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity
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