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It takes more than schools, businesses and homes to make a community. It takes volunteers.
by Rebekah Daniel
It's been said that with so much labor required to build a house, there are almost as many ways to volunteer for Habitat as there are volunteers. If that's true, there were more than 108,015 ways to volunteer just with Habitat for Humanity International programs last year.
Habitat for Humanity International's program umbrella include initiatives as diverse as AmeriCorps, Global Village, Home Builders Blitz and Youth Programs and provides a key entry point to Habitat involvement for thousands of volunteers each year. Recently, even more volunteers have become involved through Operation Home Delivery and the International Volunteer Program.
However, it's at the local affiliate level that many people first catch "Habititus," a contagious and chronic itch to be personally involved in building decent housing. Marilyn Wenzel, one of Habitat for Humanity International's 2006 volunteers of the year, first began volunteering with Habitat more than 20 years ago in New Orleans, later moving to Covington, La., and concentrating her efforts there.
"It has given me an opportunity to meet people who have struggled so long day in and day out and to respect them for their hardship," Wenzel says. "It's opened my eyes to this special group of people that I believe have an open door to heaven. It's a privilege."
According to a study released in 2006 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, some 65.4 million Americans donated their time to charity in 2005. Though that number dropped slightly to 61 million in 2006, by all accounts volunteerism is still a strong tradition, with almost 29 percent of Americans donating at least some time each year. Some of the most popular activities include coaching/tutoring/teaching (35 percent of volunteers), fund raising or selling items to make money (30 percent) and collecting, distributing or serving food (26 percent).
Within Habitat, the spectrum of opportunities ranges from traveling to another country to participate in construction activities to teaching children in local schools ways to advocate for decent housing.
"If you have the idea that you want to volunteer, act on it," Wenzel says. "Just pick up the phone, dial the number and say you want to volunteer. Some affiliates don't have enough volunteers to call people back. Pursue it anyway. Cut the organization some slack--if they don't call you back, call them. They need you."
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 AmeriCorps
From September 2005 through August 2006, 307 AmeriCorps members served 400,334 hours at 43 Habitat affiliates around the United States. These AmeriCorps members mobilized 121,332 volunteers, who contributed 1,049,477 hours to the 43 affiliates.
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 Global Village
In 2006, 380 Global Village teams of about 5,200 people traveled from the United States, donating US$2.1 million to host affiliates. There were another 200 teams of 3,150 people traveling from Europe and Asia, donating $1.2 million. In addition, 150 teams of RV Care-A-Vanners included 1,800 participants.
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 Youth Programs
Campus Chapters raised more than $3.5 million for Habitat, sponsored or co-sponsored 44 Habitat houses and engaged 34,000 youth as members of campus chapters in the United States from July 2005 to June 2006. The Collegiate Challenge program enabled 843 groups with 12,558 participants to contribute $1.3 million to 243 host affiliates in the United States.
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 International Volunteer Program
From July 1, 2006, to Feb. 28, 2007, 24 volunteers donated 12,640 hours to Habitat national organizations in 14 countries. Most of the assignments were away from the construction site and filled roles such as volunteer program developer, Jimmy Carter Work Project logistics assistant, land tenure regularization researcher, and orphans and vulnerable children coordinator. The average term of service for a single volunteer is six months.
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Where Do People in the U.S. Volunteer?
Religious institutions: 34.8 percent
Educational or youth service: 26.2 percent
Social or community service: 13.4 percent
Hospital or other health: 7.7 percent
Civil, political, professional or international: 6.4 percent
Other: 3.5 percent
Sport, hobby, cultural or arts: 3.3 percent
Environmental or animal care: 1.8 percent
Not reporting type of organization: 1.7 percent
Public safety: 1.3 percent
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Fast Facts
More than 37 percent of the population of Utah, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Vermont and Montana volunteered yearly from 2003 to 2005.
Baby Boomer volunteer rates were highest in Utah (50.7 percent), Nebraska (48.2 percent), South Dakota (46.9 percent) and Minnesota (46.1 percent). They were lowest in Nevada (21.9 percent), New York (25.3 percent), Louisiana (25.7 percent) and West Virginia (25.9 percent).
Young adult volunteer rates were highest in Utah (45.4 percent), Wyoming (37.2 percent) and Washington (35.7 percent). They were lowest in Nevada (15.8 percent), Louisiana (17.9 percent), Arizona (19.1 percent) and New York (19.2 percent).
The study, titled "Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings," uses demographic information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The study is available at www.nationalservice.gov.
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