Guest blog by Lillie Taggart
Sr. A Brush with Kindness Volunteer Facilitator

What happens when you describe your job to people?

Yesterday, in introducing my work I said, “I serve as an AmeriCorps member at Habitat for Humanity. Today we demolished a bathroom!” Blank and somewhat saddened eyes stared back. I realized the issue and relieved their worry: “I serve on the home repair side!” I explained. The home repair side that, all too often, people don’t know about.

Guest blog by Greta Gaetz
Local/Regional Policy & Advocacy Coordinator

The 2018 midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, and the outcomes greatly impact the work of Habitat. At the federal level, the House of Representatives changed control from a Republican to Democratic majority. House Democrats have offered strong support for protecting our federal funding within the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget, and for AmeriCorps, and this new majority should help Habitat efforts to secure funding increases in the coming years. In addition, this shift will lead to new leadership and committee chairs. The Habitat Advocacy Team will look out for impactful committee assignments and Minnesota representation in committee leadership in January 2019.

Guest blog by Tim Campbell

Guest Blog by Kim Welch
Global Village Volunteer

“Everyone has something to give. Everyone has something to gain.” — Jonathan Reckford, CEO Habitat for Humanity International, Vietnam 2018

Friday arrived and there was renewed energy inside us all. Could it really be our last build day together? There was so much more we wanted to do. More we wanted to give. The aches and pains our bodies felt earlier seemed gone.

Guest Blog by Jack Frangipane
Global Village Volunteer

Several hundred ducks pass under the Muong Daigre bridge at exactly 4:30 p.m.  A man in a small canoe gently guides them to a new location. Like the ducks, it’s one of our daily rituals when we  disembark and embark our bus so it  can safely cross this bridge where we meet it on the other side to and from the house sites. Just another wonderful surprise here in Dong Thap. 

Guest blog by Erica Lumley

We have arrived at the mid-week point of our build. Four members of the Twin Cities Habitat team have merged with 6 members of the Flat Iron, Colorado team to build a home for Chu Duc and Co Hai.

Duc and Hai are two very kind and grateful elderly people raising two grandsons and supported primarily by their eldest son who earns (78 USD) per month.

Guest blog by Barry Mason
Twin Cities Habitat Board Emeritus & Global Village Volunteer

"With tools we build houses. With love we build homes"

These words grace the tee shirts we were given upon arrival in Cao Lanh, Dong Thap Province and, indeed, these words resonate with each of the 200+ volunteers at this week’s Vietnam Big Build 2018.

We all have our own stories of home. This series shares those stories from Habitat staff. We'll explore questions like: what does home mean to us? How did we find a stable home? How do our stories inform our work? And how do Habitat's mission, vision, and values resonate with our experiences?

This first story is written by Erin Ahlstrom. She's our Graphic Designer, and has worked at Habitat since 2005.

Guest blog by Jennifer Sarteau
Global Village Volunteer

Conventional wisdom says it’s better to have a house built with bricks. We all have heard the story of the three little pigs, and the happenings of the one built with straw and the other built with sticks.

Guest blog by Sean Koebele
Volunteer and Constituent Relations Senior Associate at Twin Cities Habitat

Dong Thap province is known as the “rice bowl” of Vietnam, yet more than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line. Many villagers rely on rice cultivation and, while the annual floods in the Mekong River Delta are essential to agriculture in the region, they're also damaging to the substandard housing in which many people live. The lack of adequate housing and constant repairs of their flood-damaged dwellings make life hard for many families in the area.