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What is Habitat for Humanity?

You find yourself fishing out in the ocean, miles off the coast. The water has been choppy but so far you’ve managed. After a few hours, you start to realize your toes are wet. Maybe water splashed over the sides? Soon the icy water is up to your ankles. Now you know something’s wrong. There’s a hole in your boat – and it’s starting to sink.

What do you do? You have two major options. You can bail the water out or you can plug the hole. If you bail the water out, more will keep coming in. If you plug the hole, you can change the situation for good.

Habitat for Humanity is an organization that’s plugging the hole. They’re responding to material poverty in our community by creating access to affordable homeownership. As a church that’s committed to not exist for ourselves, we’ve decided to partner with Habitat for Humanity in Greene County.

What does Habitat for Humanity Do?

Habitat for Humanity helps people get into homes who wouldn’t otherwise be able. They’re creative about how that works. Sometimes it involves buying a plot of land and building a house from the ground up. Sometimes it means buying a foreclosure and renovating it.

Habitat doesn’t just give away homes, as that could create unhealthy dependencies and actually set people back. Not to mention, it would severely limit how many people they could serve. Instead, they work to find creative ways to keep the cost down – volunteer labor, donated materials, etc. They offer no-interest loans to make the final cost achievable. It’s all about giving people affordable access to housing that would be otherwise out of reach.

Habitat also supports families with accessibility needs, whether they own or rent their home they can install ramps and address other issues. Another way Habitat helps is to support low and fixed income homeowners who need help with home maintenance items. All of these projects are only possible with volunteers who are willing to help their neighbors.

Why Habitat for Humanity?

Of all the organizations to partner with, why did GCC choose Habitat as one of them? Here are just a few reasons.

1. Housing is a major need. Housing is expensive and only getting more expensive. If we want to love our neighbors, one obvious way is ensuring they have a place to live.
2. Habitat empowers people. Instead of giving handouts and creating relationships of dependency, Habitat works to enable people to contribute to the process. “Sweat equity” is important!
3. It’s a good fit for our gifts. Every church is different. As we considered future opportunities, Habitat just made sense for us. We already had people in our church who were actively volunteering. Instead of starting from scratch, why not kindle the flame that’s already burning?
4. Home ownership is long-term care. Owning a home provides families with an important asset that opens up future financial stability. Helping people own a home is a good way of helping people get out of and stay out of poverty for the long term.

Another Habitat build is starting in Greene County soon and that means new opportunities to serve. Stay tuned for more information

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