North America

Aaron Leonard
Age: 28
Location: Wyoming
Occupation: drywaller, waiter, bartender
Volunteer role with Habitat: board member, construction volunteer
Why I got involved: "I originally got involved because I had some court-ordered community service to do, and on the list of places to volunteer, Habitat stuck out at me the most. As I worked off my hours, I got to know the families and had a lot of fun with the other volunteers. As I learned more about Habitat and the families they help, I realized that my obstacles in life maybe weren't as big as I thought."

Sarah Reynolds
Age: 76
Location: Loudon, Tenn.
Occupation: volunteering
Volunteer role with Habitat for Humanity: Women Build organizer and family mentor
Why I got involved: "I love helping people do what they can do to improve their lives. The Lord has a lot to do with it, bringing Richard and me to Loudon County. I love building houses, and I love the families. I love seeing their faces when they get their keys and their family Bible. It makes my heart feel so good to know I've been able to help them."

Judith Yang
Age: 17
Location: Annandale, Va.
Occupation: High school student
Volunteer role with Habitat for Humanity: Summer Youth Blitz participant in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Why I got involved: "I was always interested in Habitat for Humanity, but I never got the chance to actually build until the summer right before my junior year. I helped build for the affiliate in Chuncheon, South Korea, for a week, and I immediately fell in love with Habitat. The following summer I participated in Summer Youth Blitz in West Palm Beach, and that's when my passion for Habitat truly soared."

Irv Hall
Age: 74
Location: Albuquerque, N.M.
Occupation: retired
Volunteer role with Habitat: Construction volunteer, donor and Global Village team leader
What people say: "Irv sometimes tells a story of the day he retired from Sandia Labs. His director, Dennis, stopped by for a brief chat at his retirement coffee. He posed a question: 'What are you going to do now, Irv, when you are retired? Are you going to do something to make a difference?' It was a casual question and a comment often heard today. Irv says that he doesn't remember any other conversations that day, but he thinks about Dennis' question every day. He hopes and prays that his work with Habitat does make a difference in the lives of people Habitat is trying to serve," says Kevin Cronk, executive director of Greater Albuquerque Habitat for Humanity.

Maria Binney
Age: 17
Location: Roswell, Ga.
Occupation: High school student
Volunteer role with Habitat: Intern at Habitat for Humanity North Central Georgia
Why I got involved: "I decided to get involved in Habitat because when I was little, my parents were in charge of Habitat at my church, so I spent a lot of time going with my parents to do home visits and playing with prospective homeowner kids. At a very young age, my parents explained to me that these kids were exactly like me, but they did not have a warm, safe house like I did. This had a huge impact on me."

Europe and Asia

Dr. Heather Hanna
Age: 30
Location: County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Occupation: child and adolescent psychiatrist
Volunteer role with Habitat: member of national board of directors, Global Village team leader and leadership trainer
Why I got involved: "The more you travel, the more the world becomes your home. In the same way, when you work alongside someone to build the house that will one day become your home, that person becomes your brother.

"It is easy to talk about justice and compassion, but on the building site we see these 'Kingdom of God' values break into the everyday reality of our broken world. Each brick carries the promise of comfort, security and belonging. Day by day you begin to see hope and confidence flicker and grow in the homeowner's eyes. It is in those moments of grace that we meet Jesus, whispering, 'Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Again, hope springs up in our own broken hearts."

Robert Holmes
Age: 49
Location: Wirral Peninsula, Great Britain
Occupation: director at a mortgage company
Volunteer role with Habitat: Global Village team leader
Why I got involved: "In 2005, I went with Habitat to Sri Lanka as part of a tsunami relief project. [I saw] firsthand the great work the charity does to build communities as well as homes. I wanted to become more involved. I've now led two Global Village teams to Kenya and Armenia. I feel privileged to be involved in the remarkable work of this charity, and I always return home feeling humbled by both the welcome and gratitude received from the homeowner and community where we have worked."

Daniel Grout
Age: 63
Location: Paris, France
Occupation: retired (previously worked in international business)
Volunteer role with Habitat: Global Village team leader
Why I got involved: "The joy of the family working alongside you and the sparkle in their eyes when they receive the keys of THEIR home is worth any kind of joy in life. Thanks to Habitat, I could show younger volunteers who came with me the joy of giving and how much each of us receives in giving.

"The world of Habitat is a world of love, exchange and giving. What a fantastic image for the world of today! Spreading this world should help to reduce conflicts and killing."

Ani Vardanyan
Age: 25
Location: Yerevan City, Armenia
Occupation: English and French translator
Volunteer role with Habitat: Global Village work team tour guide, translator and office volunteer
Why I got involved: "I am volunteering there just because I do love people, but the history of my involvement in Habitat for Humanity was very sudden. I passed an exam and got a license at the Ministry of Economics as a tour guide, and my friend who was working for Habitat called me and said that a tour guide was needed and I applied. Later I loved them all, just because it was the only office where I met very warm people who love their job and all their surroundings. It is one big family where everyone is willing to help at any moment, if it is necessary, where the only chief of the office is LOVE."

Lucas Marc Livingstone
Age: 26
Location: Vietnam
Occupation: Construction manager
Volunteer role with Habitat: construction site assistant and volunteer manager, construction quality assistant, construction manual coordinator
Why I got involved: "Following my graduation from college, I became a construction manager, while occasionally participating in local HFH construction projects in California. I decided to dedicate several months toward my passion to serve others, and Vietnam was my destination of greatest interest. My volunteership became a reality for me once I learned of Habitat's fascinating work with housing and sanitation microfinance in the Mekong region of Vietnam. I volunteer to see people's selfless hearts and minds in action. But it is the overjoyed hearts of the recipients that motivates me most."

Sumaya Al-Attia
Age: 18
Location: Amman, Jordan
Occupation: student
Volunteer role with Habitat: summer intern
Why I got involved: "I have been involved with humanitarian organizations and community services since the young age of 10. This recent summer, I decided to volunteer with my relative for translation purposes, as HFHJ had two American interns who needed to communicate with their non-English speaking colleagues. Soon after, I noticed that I was becoming a part of the team, and my efforts were much appreciated by everyone at the center. I soon began official visitation trips for housing condition evaluation and, of course, meeting the actual families in need.

"The image I have of these people smiling and welcoming us is my favorite memory, a memory I won't be able to forget ... a memory I would like to revive whenever I get the chance to ... to help those people, my people, my community."

Central and South America

Mauricio Artinano
Age: 24
Location: Costa Rica
Occupation: Program officer at a nongovernmental organization called The Project on Justice in Times of Transition
Volunteer role with Habitat: Global Village trip leader, conference logistics volunteer
Why I got involved: "Nearly eight years ago, when I was in tenth grade, my high school history teacher took a group of students on a one-day trip with Habitat and I had an amazing time working with my friends and with the families whose future home we were helping to build. Ever since then, I've been a Habitat volunteer and I've participated in builds in my country of Costa Rica, as well as Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua."

Juan Carlos Gonzalez Lino
Age: 20
Location: Mexico
Occupation: Carpenter
Volunteer role with Habitat: volunteer work team construction supervisor
What people say: Juan Carlos initially became involved with Habitat as a prospective homeowner; he wanted to provide his mother with a decent place to live, but she was initially suspicious of the "too good to be true" offer of affordable homeownership. Juan Carlos volunteered for months to help other families build their houses and impressed the construction staff with his hard work. His construction skills acquired on the build site led to a stable job and, as his mother eventually came to see the integrity of the Habitat program, homeownership.

Gretchen Gall
Age: 30
Location: Paraguay
Occupation: Education
Volunteer role with Habitat: Global Village and volunteer coordinator
Why I got involved: "I do not consider volunteering as something I do for people who are less fortunate than me, but rather I think of volunteering as an exchange--a culture exchange, an exchange of experiences and ideas--because inevitably, I receive and learn as much out of the experience as I am able to offer others. My specific experience volunteering with Habitat Paraguay has been a great opportunity for me to utilize skills that I already have and has also been a unique challenge for me to learn new skills that I never thought I would need! Also, as the only foreigner working in the Habitat office, this volunteer experience has allowed me to engage in a unique working environment that I would never have in the United States."