Habitat World Online

From Habitat CEO Jonathan Reckford

When you mention volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, the perception is sometimes that there is only one way to help — by doing physical labor on job sites. The reality, however, is that there are myriad ways you can get involved to support the mission of Habitat. You just have to answer one question: What is your passion?

Habitat needs people from all walks of life. Creative types who can put together special events, strategic thinkers who can help develop long-term plans, people with technical skills to keep up with the changing world of communications, engaging people who can answer phones and greet visitors with warmth and enthusiasm.

Dayton Ohio Habitat, just for one example, seeks volunteers with very specific skills to partner with homeowner families. One group of mentors is assigned as friends and advocates. Under a new program, a separate group of volunteers is going to be assigned as budgeting mentors, helpers who will meet with homeowners once a month to talk about budgeting, saving and what expenses to expect. This service is designed to help homeowners feel safer about their new financial commitment. An affiliate near you may have similar needs — and opportunities.

Volunteers are the heart and soul of Habitat. Our ReStore operations, committee activities, advocacy efforts and certainly our construction would be impossible without those of you who donate so generously of your time. Currently, we mobilize more than 750,000 volunteers each year around the world. Our goal is to raise that number to a million by the year 2013.

The expanded National Service program in the United States will certainly help us reach that goal. It will provide an increase in the number of AmeriCorps and VISTA members available to affiliates, with each one potentially leveraging an average of 400 additional volunteers. Our growth can be exponential.

Help is needed in your hometown — and around the world. Consider signing up for one of our Global Village trips. God will break your heart in a whole new way, as He has mine, when you observe living conditions around the world and see Habitat’s efforts to improve them. Visit www.habitat.org/gv to discover where GV trips are being planned, to see where you might make a difference in the life of a family.

More than ever, we need volunteers, people with diverse skill sets who are willing to contribute to the cause of simple, decent housing. Now more than ever, we need you.