For the past five years I have been an active member of our local Habitat for Humanity chapter. I was recruited as a volunteer at our first Town of Stanardsville July 4th celebration when I my eye caught sight of a bright Federal Safety yellow t-shirt waving in the breeze as it hung from the side of a canopy. Sure, I thought, I’d buy a t-shirt to support Habitat for Humanity. Little did I know what I was getting into. In short order I was providing my contact information and within a few short weeks was attending a Steering Committee meeting and installed as recording secretary.
Like most people, my understanding of how Habitat for Humanity works was based on news blurbs I’d seen highlighting Jimmy Carter swinging a hammer on a home build. I could do that. I wanted to do that. As a small child I was encouraged to learn how to handle tools and watched my father fix almost everything in our house that needed repair. I was ready, willing and able to pick up a hammer and get going. I also believed that this was work worth doing, a way I could put skin and bones on the body of Christ and actually work to make a difference in someone else’s life.
As a member of the Greene County Habitat for Humanity Steering Committee I learned pretty quickly that it takes a whole lot more than willing volunteers with hammers and mechanical aptitude to build a house. Before the first nail can be hammered, it takes a group of people willing to spend hours of planning and problem solving and a whole lot of cash.
Prior to my joining the group, the model had been to fund raise and build in alternate years but over time and had successfully build four homes in eleven years. Due to a variety of circumstances, the core group on the Steering Committee shrank to barebones. Eventually, for all intents and purposes I was left the “last man standing”. With the help of a very young and energetic Americorps Volunteer, we were able to recruit additional committee members and stay keep Habitat for Humanity alive in Greene County.
Over the years we have attempted to raise funds by a handful of unsuccessful mailing campaigns, spaghetti dinners and community events with meager results. I think most people (myself included) think that project funding for Habitat for Humanity comes from the vast resources of an international organization. Not true. In fact, for the most part, every single dollar spent on our local Habitat for Humanity projects must be raised from within our community. Not only that, we are forced to compete with Habitat for Humanity International in our fund-raising efforts. Just a few months ago I received a solicitation from HFH International as I’m sure most folks in the county did. And, my guess is that many folks made donations under the misimpression that they would be benefiting our local organization.
With limited funds, for the past several years our group has concentrated on providing handicap access ramps for our community which as a large population of disabled people living on very modest fixed incomes. While the work has been rewarding, we all dreamed of the day when we could fulfill our mission and provide a safe, affordable home for a working family in Greene.
Last summer an opportunity to do that became available. Habitat for Humanity Virginia, our overseeing entity, was able to purchase a home through a HUD foreclosure program in the town of Stanardsville. Since November, our volunteer crews have been working to rehab this long neglected home and get it ready for a deserving local family.
With a combination of Federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program Funds and resources at hand, we were certain we’d be able to easily complete this project. Last year we began our Partner Family Application Process and chose two families to participate in our program. One of these families will move into our current project home.
There is a common misconception that Habitat for Humanity gives homes to people. This is simply not true. Not only do our families have to secure mortgages to pay for their homes but they also have to actually help build them. Each adult family member has a required number of “sweat equity” hours they must work and we diligently track them. On any given Saturday, if you stop by our project home, you will find not only the family who will move in, but the next one in line as well, doing whatever they are able to do, whether it’s hammering, painting, sanding or even cleaning.
People also believe that all the materials used on our projects are donated. This is also not true. While we sometimes receive discounts for items purchased, most of the time we pay full retail price for everything we need. Our real savings comes in labor costs. By relying on a volunteer labor force, we are able to cut the cost dramatically. In this respect, we have been blessed. On any given Saturday workday, we will have between fifteen and twenty volunteers of all ages; some even from our local high school, all working to “get ‘er done.”
We have also been blessed by the generosity of our neighbors who provide lunch for our work crews. Organizations including the local Ruritan and Farm Bureau Ladies’ Auxiliary and other individuals have delivered hot lunches to our site. On our last workday, lunch was provided by one of our previous partner families, the Jenkins, who will be celebrating their eighth anniversary in their Habitat home this coming September. It was a real treat to our volunteers as well as the partner families to meet them and hear their success story.
Working with Habitat for Humanity in Greene County has been an incredible experience for me these past five years. It has helped me become a real part of this community in ways that most newcomers don’t get. It is a warm, generous community eager to help their neighbors whenever they can. Getting the word out is our biggest challenge.
Greene County is tiny and borders the much larger Albemarle County. Nearby the City of Charlottesville and University of Virginia tend to grab most of the media attention for our area. All too often when I’m out and about in the community people tell me they volunteer with (and probably donate to) the Habitat for Humanity group in Charlottesville because they didn’t know we have a chapter in Greene.
So, in case you didn’t know, Greene County does have its own chapter of Habitat for Humanity and we are alive and committed to provide safe and affordable housing for our community. We can’t do it alone. We need the support of our entire community. If you would like to help out, you can send a check to:
Habitat for Humanity Greene County , PO Box 150, Ruckersville, VA 22968
or go to our webpage (www.greenehabitatva.org) where you can use your credit card. Any and every little bit helps.
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