Habitat for Humanity Touches Lives

My name is Vanessa, and I would like to talk to you tonight about how Habitat for Humanity has touched lives, and how you can help Habitat for Humanity make a difference.

We are a non-profit organization that builds houses for those who are living below the poverty line, or have been made homeless by natural disasters. We do not work for free. We identify people who need safe, decent, quality housing the most, and we give them a hand up in achieving that goal; not a hand-out. Begun in 1976 by Millard Fuller, there are currently 72 branches in Canada, and over 2,300 active Habitat affiliates worldwide in more than 93 countries. What does a Habitat House cost? As I said, we do not work for free: a home costs a partner family 500 hours of sweat equity, and about $150,000.

I have been a part of this community for five years now this month, and let me tell you; it is a wonderful community to be a part of. Here is how we’ve helped effect Toronto for the better:

We Touch Lives:
By bringing people together under one common goal:
By we, you see, we don’t have to be only the people being paid to work for Habitat. We are the individual and group volunteers, the site supervisors, the Crew Leaders, the contractors, the Alternative school students, the Exchange students, the Build Blitz groups, the House Leaders, the sponsors, and especially the partner families. We are the community that makes up Habitat for Humanity.

We Touch Lives: By building teams:
One thing I hear time and time again during my work with corporate groups is how “I never knew so-and-so before,” or “I don’t want to go back to the office tomorrow”, and not because they are tired and sore, although that usually is a factor, but because “I haven’t worked with this part of my brain in such a long time; it’s so refreshing!” The Habitat experience brings professional groups outdoors, and gets them working together as a team in very different ways than they usually do.

We Touch Lives: By giving partner families a chance to be a part of something so much bigger than THEY are to build their own home:
Some of the partner family members who donate their sweat equity hours to onsite work sometimes feel overwhelmed with gratitude just being a part of a project this big, and being able to build their own home with the help of so many kind strangers!! I mean, that must be an incredible experience, to think “this is MY HOUSE!! I went from such sub-standard housing conditions, to being a part of my own house being built!” That’s incredible!

You can also touch lives. Here are some things that you can do:
There are so many ways to contribute to Habitat’s goals, that there is bound to be at least one way out there that is right for you. We bring families together with our Gingerbread Builds, and Father’s / Mother’s Day events each year. On the most awkward day of the year, we bring together singles and couples for a v.entertaining day of mostly non-building on v.Day (Feb 14). We have 4 Restores around Toronto, where you can buy used and donated pieces of homes for your home, or donate pieces yourself. If you like to travel for a cause, you can sign up for one of our Global Village Programs. As well as volunteering your time, there are also opportunities to make corporate donations, personal donations, and give gifts-in-kind.

So to summarize:
H4H has touched lives for over 35 years by building simple, decent homes for those most in need of them, and we will continue to seek to build homes for people around the world as long as we exist. It is a great organization to work for because it is such an open inclusive community, where everyone can contribute, and everyone feels like a part of the group. There are so many opportunities to get involved as well, so that everyone looking to help can find a way to make a difference that they feel comfortable with doing.