Guest Blog by Meghan Longtin

Guest Blog by Brian Juntti
Habitat Staff Member & Global Village Volunteer 

Our morning drive started with the smell of exhaust and the spirited chirp of horns in the scramble of San Juan’s traffic. Before long, we were on weaving country roads headed toward the cloud-covered mountains in the distance.

Guest Blog by Joe Milton
Twin Cities Habitat Construction Volunteer Facilitator 

The sunrise of February 4 rose from the beautiful mountains in the East. The Habitat volunteers woke up with excitement knowing they would make another great stride in building a new home for a wonderful family.

Guest Blog byTom Goodoien
Global Village and JCRC volunteer

Buenas noches to the Habitat for Humanity Global Village volunteers! 

My passion story advice for today and more:

Find a passion that gives your life meaningful purpose…I found it in Habitat for Humanity, an ecumenical movement. A collaborative effort of varied (sometimes ungovernable) volunteers who are habitually, deliberately, regularly kind and generous and want to give back from the abundance they have been given. And serve humanity in a bigger way. ‘Good God I am the luckiest person in the world.’

Guest Blog by by Peter Myers
Global Village Volunteer

Day One of our week in San Juan de la Maguana:

We were greeted at the hotel by our local Habitat coordinator, Nongelys, and our engineer (aka site sup) Roberto. We managed to pack all 18 of our Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity crew into two not-very-large vans for a half-hour ride to an outdoor factory where we'd be making concrete slabs for future houses. It was certainly a new construction technique for most of us ,but after a short training period we got the hang of it.

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.