The future is in good hands

Habitat volunteers swap stories at the Global Village & Youth Leadership Conference
By Shelly Whittet

In the ongoing story of Habitat for Humanity, young people are writing some of the most exciting chapters.

The theme of the 2009 Global Village & Youth Leadership Conference, held Oct. 16-18 in Chicago, Illinois, was “Educate. Activate. Advocate.” The conference, underwritten by State Farm Insurance, brought together 387 Habitat leaders for a weekend of celebrating, learning and networking. Ultimately, though, it was a time for stories.

Participants and presenters shared stories of successful fundraising events, of a beloved homeowner’s struggle, of lasting relationships formed on a work site, of wrenches thrown in trip plans.

With 34 states, 64 schools and nine Habitat for Humanity International departments represented, there were many stories to tell. Participants shared their stories in workshops, on the stage, and during casual conversations in the hotel lobby.

Steve Campbell, HFHI’s director of operational partnerships, kicked off the conference Friday night with a moving account of a relationship that inspires him and reminds him of the impact of youth. Campbell recounted receiving an e-mail from a young girl when he was newly serving as an executive director for a Michigan affiliate.

Only three sentences long, the note began, “I am only 14 years old, but I want to make a difference.”

Campbell met with the girl and helped her start a local Youth United group. All these years later, he choked up as he told the audience that by the time she graduated high school, headed to Harvard in the fall, her group had funded and built three homes, raised over $150,000 and engaged 13 schools.

Campbell then went on to encourage attendees to tell others about their experiences with Habitat, saying, “Tell your story—from your heart. …That is one of the ways we advocate.”

Presenters shared their stories in more than 40 workshops throughout the weekend. University of Wisconsin-Madison students talked about their successful Souper Bowl fundraising event. HFHI staff, team leaders, long-term volunteers and AmeriCorps members presented ideas to students who are eager to stay involved with Habitat after college.

David Minich, HFHI’s director of global volunteer engagement, used case studies gathered over more than two decades to highlight best practices for Global Village team leaders. Young men from McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, shared how their GV trips and work right in their local community had helped them develop new skills.

Gail Chadwin, a national volunteer coordinator for Habitat for Humanity El Salvador, talked about her path to working with Habitat and what she loves about her job. Veteran Global Village team leader Ricki Selva narrated a striking slideshow of her travels around the world building with Habitat.

All of these stories shed light on ways to be better educators, advocates and builders for Habitat’s mission. They celebrated the work that has been done, and emphasized the need to keep working. They also provided evidence that the future of Habitat is in good hands, with so many young volunteers showing such passion and determination.

New Habitat for Humanity Lake County staff member Amber Costner attended one of the storytelling sessions and was deeply moved. She sent an e-mail to Stuart Jamieson, an HFHI organizational development consultant who had led several sessions, before the conference even ended:

“As I walked out at the end, I asked myself, ‘What have I done? What in the world am I doing?’ The answer was clear: nothing. And by that I mean at least nothing that amounted to the miracles of the stories that I had just heard.

“I have a tangled story of my own, one that I am not yet proud of, because I am not yet who I want to be. But with the change that I felt in that room, I am starting a new story.”

Experiencing, hearing and sharing these stories of success and transformation is a process that helps us all to learn new ways to do this work, to better understand our own impact, to recognize bits of our experiences in others’ stories, to see new possibilities, and to be re-inspired.

And that is a story worth telling over and over again.

Shelly Whittet is a writer/editor at Habitat for Humanity International, based in Americus, Georgia.