“Then you forget all the frustration, all the upset moments. Then you can say, ‘Here I gave a helping hand.’ This is soul-satisfying, which is more than money can do.”—Adrian Roman, HFH Cluj (Romania) construction manager, on house dedications

“I didn’t see the plight of the working poor and I didn’t care about the working poor. ...I was concerned about David, my three daughters, wife, Cadillac and a house. But then someone said to me, ‘If you are what you do, what are you when you don’t?’ I got religion.”
—Dave Conway, a Habitat volunteer who completed his fifth Jimmy Carter Work Project while in the Republic of Korea

“We are like brothers already.”
—Mihai Pop, a Habitat homeowner in Romania,
on working “sweat equity” with his neighbors

“Working with Habitat is to sow a seed to help future generations. It is rewarding work. Doing this job is the best gift we can give our children—the desire to serve others.”
—Héctor Mauricio Mejia, HFH Honduras volunteer who joined the World Leaders Build with his wife and daughter

“In my profession as a paramedic, I often see the very worst in life and see how cruel some people can be toward their fellow human beings. At Habitat, I can forget the dark side and see and be a part of the good side of humanity.”
—Dana Bradshaw, a Habitat volunteer at the Ed Schreyer Work Project in Canada

“It is beautiful to realize that the practice of valin-tanana (sweat equity), which many thought buried in the old ancient days, is still alive. I can but thank Habitat for Humanity for bringing back to life this wisdom of the Malagasy ancestors.”
—Hasina, a Habitat volunteer at Madagascar’s World Leaders Build