Has anyone ever volunteered for Habitat for Humanity?

[donco6]

I saw they had a booth at the home show in Denver last week, so I talked with them for a while. I've always been intrigued with the idea of working with them. Any experience out there?

[Esse Quam Videri]

1. I have

back in N.C. not here in Denver. Very good experience..... very sore by the end of the work day.

[donco6]

2. Thanks. n/t

[ThomWV]

3. A friend of mine did for a couple of work sessions and then quit - his comments kept me away

I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was interested in doing that sort of thing; I've worked various construction jobs over the years and so had he. I was pretty sure he had done it and wanted to hear his opinion of it. He told me that at least the local group was just chock full of born-again types who blessed this and blessed that and amened him about all he could stand in very short order. He told me that after a couple of dry wall sessions he had to either leave or kill someone. So I said to hell with it.

[Esse Quam Videri]

4. I think it has a lot to do

with the group you are doing it with. Mine was with the Rotary Club I was a member of at the time. For instance, if a group of DU'ers in a particular city wanted to get together and do a Habitat house it would probably be just them and the coordinators from Habitat working on that particular day.

[ThomWV]

15. That was exactly what I thought, but it was the only group active in the area so that was that.

[donco6]

5. Good to know - thanks.

I'd have real problems with that eventually. I certainly don't want to have to hide being gay around those people, and they REALLY wouldn't like hearing what I have to say if they started evangelizing me.

[GreenStormCloud]

32. Please remember that HFH was founded by a born-again Christian.

From their website: http://www.habitat.org/how/default.aspx

We are a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian ministry founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live.

[Obamanaut]

36. Yeah, it really sucks that people will "...blessed this and blessed

that and..." while they are building someone a house. :sarcasm:

[flvegan]

6. I did twice through my old employer.

Our law firm teamed with them and sent 10 or 12 of us to help one weekend. Very enjoyable, and our HFH folks were very organized and really knew how to leverage people that might have had little/no experience at all.

If you don't do any sort of construction or like activity every so often, you WILL be using loads of muscles you never knew you had and you will likely be very sore at the end of it all.

[ZombieHorde]

7. No, but my family was turned down for not holding the proper supernatural beliefs. nt

[donco6]

16. So, you can't get a house if you're not Christian? n/t

[ZombieHorde]

18. That is not the official rule, but the people my wife and I spoke to made that clear.

Habitat for Humanity is probably a decent organization, but every group of humans will have some bigots.

[mia]

8. I helped paint a couple of houses.

I enjoyed the experience and would recommend it.

[Xithras]

9. I have.

I've helped with several homes. ThomWV was correct when he said that there are often religious people there, but I've never seen it quite as bad as he described. You have to remember that, while the organization isn't religious, it does rely on volunteers to do its work. The Christians who come out to help usually aren't the fundie "do as I say or burn in hell" type, but are usually those rarer Christians who actually follow the New Testament teachings of charity and goodwill. More often than not, they're the more liberal "turn the other cheek" types. That's why they're there in the first place, to help someone in need. I've never seen them be anything but friendly and accepting, but it DOES really depend on the group. With volunteers, you never know what you're going to get until you get there.

Generally speaking, you can expect it to be a reflection of your area. If you live in a fundie area, the odds are pretty good that you'll be volunteering with a lot of religious people. Otherwise, it will probably be more of a mix. Do keep in mind, however, that H4H doesn't allow people to proselytize at their work sites, so if anyone DOES get carried away, you can usually just complain to the site organizer about it and they'll intervene. I've never personally had a problem.

And, in the end, you're helping to put someone into a home who may not have had one otherwise. That's the important part. I've never walked off a worksite and said, "I wish I'd stayed home today." It's a very worthwhile cause.

[donco6]

12. Thank you. I understand how that must be.

Good info.

[Esse Quam Videri]

10. Let me know if you want to try to

get a group of like minded individuals together in the Denver area. I would welcome the opportunity to do H4H again.

[donco6]

13. I was wondering about Adams County, where I work.

It's in bad shape, and there are very few groups who focus effort there, unlike Denver, which kinda sucks the air out of the urban fringe.

We just had one of our school kids killed by gang members who beat him to death with a baseball bat. So I'm wondering if creating avenues for people to help each other might not be a good idea. ?? I'm just grasping here, frankly.

[Esse Quam Videri]

19. Is there an active Habitat

group in Adams Co? I'd be willing to do it anywhere around the Denver area. Sounds like you have a great idea about trying to give the community an outlet and a way to come together.

[donco6]

21. No there isn't.

It's unfortunate. There's such need here and in Commerce City. Well, I may try Denver for a while and see if it's something I can get behind.

[etherealtruth]

11. Yes

In Metro Detroit. Wonderful experience. Wonderful people involved. Too many other personal commitment prevented me from continuing to volunteer.

My father did as well. Same wonderful experience.

I have an elderly aunt in Maine that was a beneficiary of the kindness of others. She and her daughter are happily living in a Habitat for Humanity home.

[donco6]

14. So, how much do you have to know?

I'm fairly handy with tools, but I've certainly never done anything this complicated. How do they match your skills with the job?

[etherealtruth]

20. Essentially I have no building and construction skills

On-site I was assigned the task of pre-drilling holes, at an other I painted, I was allowed to hammer nails into floor boards ... They will task you with skill appropriate jobs. Jobs that will be truly helpful, regardless of skill level.

My skills come in to play in the planning stages , specifically due diligence prior to property acquisition.

I want to add that I did not encounter the "religiously insane" while volunteering, though the projects were sponsored through the Lutheran Church in this area. I live in Metro Detroit ... of course we have "our" religious right wing nuts .... but they are not a big part of the area. As others have said, I would guess that the volunteers are going to be reflective of the area that you are volunteering in.

My dad volunteered in northern Michigan .... he has ZERO tolerance for "fundies" of any kind .... he had a good experience as well.


I should apologize to anyone trying to read anything I post today. I am bound and determined to adjust to my new progressive lenses. It is not going so well. My ability to proof-read is absent :(

[donco6]

22. Thanks for the info.

And I've been there with the lenses!

[JustAnotherGen]

17. I did in Rochester several times

I'm thinking of joining my company sponsored program. My experience in terms of people? Awesome! My experience, by no means am I a trades person . . . but painting is always good. I did some of my own home upgrades a few years ago (toilet, shower installation, hardwoods - had to lift the cabinets to do it correctly). So I did do some work in the bathrooms, installed lighting fixtures, painted . . .

[struggle4progress]

23. I did regularly for about a decade. I always enjoyed the experience.

A bunch of us regulars would usually work a shift, then head off for beer and pizza

But your experience may really depend on the local group. Overall, NC's Triangle rather blue and tolerant

[ingac70]

24. I did. When I was with UAW Local 737.

Loved it.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

25. Mixed results. Did in in three different areas

Markedly different culture and attitudes, depending on the location. Two were much more productive and better organized than the other one. As others have said here, the experience varies widely. I would recommend giving it a try

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. Except for the people with construction skills and experience, you don't get the same volunteers

each time.

You might have the Hellfire and Brimstone Holiness Church out volunteering one day and the Unitarian-Universalists the day after that and a bunch of students from the local state university the next.

I've volunteered with people from my church a few times, always doing the low-skilled stuff (laying sod, painting), and there have always been people from other churches or from some non-religious group or just miscellaneous individual volunteers.

In Minneapolis, most of the houses seem to go to immigrants. I'm not sure why that is, although one of the supervisors said that the immigrants tend to not only keep to the 700-hour per household work requirement but exceed it. By the way, according to the newsletter that I receive as an occasional volunteer, some of the families that received houses were Somali, so in this area, at least, there's no requirement that recipients be Christian.

[JustAnotherGen]

31. I'm a UU

:rotfl: That's where my experience up above came from! :-)

I think we are good crew to hang out with. Obnoxiously liberal, irritating to 'Christians', and welcome of homosexual and transgender folks! And afterwards we all got together for pot luck suppers! (Joke about UU's - we believe in the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, and Pot Luck Suppers!)

[Old Troop]

27. I did it

I've worked on several projects. It is hard work (usually), but incredibly rewarding. I did it with some folks from my church and most of the conversation was "shit, I hit my finger", "damn, we cut it too short". Nothing about religion at all. It was a good feeling to see people get a house of their own.

[donco6]

29. Haha! I'd fit right in there. Thanks. n/t

[Tesha]

28. We did the web site for the local Habitat for Humanity group.

When our web development company was just getting off the
ground, we did the web site for the local group and spent a
fair amount of time visiting their local project at the time; we
were quite positively impressed and never caught much of
a "holy roller" vibe.

I don't quite remember why we didn't end up swinging hammers
and such; I think they were basically "fully staffed" for that
project.

Nowadays, our own home improvement projects tend to keep
Mr. Tesha and me fully occupied, but if the pace around here
ever slackened off, I'm pretty sure we'd have no reservations
about finding out what the local crew is up to nowadays.

Tesha

[newspeak]

30. hubby, I and some others wanted to start one in our small town

We completed all of the paper work and we were meeting one to two times a week to get it off the ground, then a government housing incentive project was introduced in town--so we dropped it. Those who were interested and attended were not gung ho evangelical christians--more liberal social.

[WVRICK13]

33. I Served As Chairman Of A Local Habitat Board

and quit after being disgusted with what I saw. Also, it made the Board gasp when I was asked to start the meeting with a prayer and I replied, "moving along, not a christian."

This particular group got land donated, free building materials, and the volunteers paid $500 a week to volunteer. I know the volunteers are well meaning but face it, not many have building skills. The homes were exempt from the regular inspections because of some political maneuvering about it being an FBO project. The end result is the Habitat group based the selling price for the home comps for location and square footage, not quality of construction. So the poor low-income family paid a high price for substandard construction, although at zero interest. It was a huge money making scam. Free land, free material, and labor that pays you to work. Couple that with sub-standard construction and high market pricing and the poor family gets screwed. Not sure about other Habitat groups in the world. Now, I believe their intentions are good but the end result is not so good.

[madokie]

34. We poured the floor for one of their houses built here

so yes I have and yes it was a gift. We would have done more if they were building any others close by

[madmom]

35. I haven't worked at an actual site, but have worked to help set up one of their new

"restore" stores in our area. It seems to me they are a caring group and well worth the time and effort.

[rusty fender]

37. I volunteered one day a week for an entire summer in

Santa Fe, NM. Overall, my experience was positive. I quit going mainly because I'd show up and the supervisor didn't have anything for me to do. They usually had specific tasks for groups of volunteers, like drywalling, framing, painting, etc., but as an individual, you weren't always accounted for. I understood that, so I wasn't upset, but my time was not put to good use.

I am an atheist. The day always began with a prayer circle. I just stood to the side. No big deal. However, none of the projects went to any but straight families. I don't know if any gays had applied, but I got the impression that you were SOL if you were gay and needed a house.