Guest blog by Julia Brauchle
Twin Cities Habitat Staff

Campus Chapters

School is back in session and that means Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapters are reconvening.  Campus Chapters are student-run clubs that support a Habitat affiliate through volunteering, fundraising, education and advocacy.  They help an affiliate reach a greater audience by spreading our mission through a college campus and student body.  Twin Cities Habitat is lucky enough to have three established Campus Chapters:  The University of Minnesota, Hamline University and Macalester College.  Each has an executive board of students that plans builds, hosts fundraising events and advocates for affordable housing on campus.  What do the chapters have planned for this year?  A LOT!

Lyman Companies, a residential construction company, is the main supplier of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHFH) lumber. Since 1995, the partnership has flourish into donations of materials and labor to help build Habitat homes. This kind gesture continues today and TCHFH is grateful to welcome them for another year of building.

 What do Amazon, cars, Thrivent Choice Dollars, stock and estates all have in common? They're all unique ways to support Habitat for Humanity's mission in the Twin Cities!

What's a design firm to do when they are relocating and have too many furniture pieces to bring with them? They donate them to ReStore!

By Blake MacKenzie
Twin Cities Habitat Staff

Working in fundraising at Habitat, I frequently get calls from people who want to make a gift. Sometimes people say  “Sorry, this is all I can afford!” when making their gift to Twin Cities Habitat. Believe me, a little bit can go a long way when used effectively. And no one knows that better than the 158 members of the Carpenter’s Club, Habitat’s group of sustaining donors.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity relies on the generous hearts of our donors, partners and sponsors, to complete all of the homebuilding, home repair, mortgage foreclosure prevention counseling, advocacy and community work that we do each year.

Earlier this week, members of our fundraising team received a phone call about an individual who wanted to make a donation. While our team receives phone calls from many wonderful donors around the Twin Cities, this donation was extra special. Why? Because this donor is just six-years-old.

Deirdre Haj and her husband Joseph were no strangers to Habitat ReStores when they moved to Minnesota from North Carolina. Deirdre served on the board of The Rotary Club of Durham, and Habitat for Humanity was one of the charities the local rotary supported. After purchasing their home in the Twin Cities,  the couple knew just what they wanted to do with the leftover materials from their kitchen project.

By Blake MacKenzie
Twin Cities Habitat Staff

As part of the Carpenter’s Club, Lois Humbert is a sustaining monthly donor for Twin Cities Habitat.

She saw the impact of Habitat first-hand when a woman from her unit in Mary Kay purchased a Habitat home near Ashland, Wisconsin. The single mom had to put many hours of sweat equity into her home.

“I saw how she had to take more accountability and pride in her home because of that,” Lois said.

Dennis knew he wanted to travel more, but he had a problem. He had a lifetime’s accumulation of furniture, tools, artwork and memorabilia that he’d either have to sell or put in storage. Neither option appealed to him.