Our volunteers are not the only ones giving of their time and energy to serve Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s mission. This National Volunteer Recognition Week, we are taking a day to acknowledge our AmeriCorps and Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) members. Both are programs under the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) that seek to support people of all backgrounds in serving their communities.

Guest blog by Shannon Twiss
Volunteer Coordinator and AmeriCorps member

April 15 – 21 is National Volunteer Recognition week, not just at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, but all across the country. Each year, nonprofit organizations and communities recognize volunteers and celebrate service. National Volunteer Week was established by Points of Light, and started in 1974.

What started as a church project to house a refugee family and her children, has blossomed into a strong coalition and an amazing partnership between local faith groups and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.  This coalition, also known as Holy Hammers, has inspired new coalitions to form around the Twin Cities metro, and across the nation. At the core of the coalition are several incredibly dedicated people—one of which, is volunteer coordinator for Presbyterian Church of the Way (PCOTW), Judy Murakami.

It was a summer Kathleen and Kyle will never forget. Without knowing each other, they had joined a regular volunteer crew working on a Habitat home repair project. They met at the top of a roof while ripping out shingles. They went on a date. They fell in love. Eight years later, in the fall of 2017, they were married.

At first, Jerry was trying to ease into retirement in 2006, going from five workdays to four as a first step, while looking around for some meaningful volunteer work. Then he heard that his church, Saint Bonaventure in Bloomington, was organizing a Habitat project in Savage. So, he volunteered.

Guest Blog by Noah Keller
Twin Cities Habitat Staff

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHFH) is excited to announce two Global Village build trips in 2018! TCHFH staff will lead teams of approximately 20 volunteers to the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua:

Dominican Republic: February 3-11, 2018

Nicaragua: March 10-18, 2018

Registration is now open for these opportunities; please contact me at noah.keller@tchabitat.org for more information!

Long-time volunteer, Bruce Moulton and the “EpiscoBuilders” have been volunteering with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity for over twenty years. Not only do they help build homes to support affordable housing, but Bruce also builds tiny homes… for the birds! Each home that the EpiscoBuilders help build, the Habitat homeowners also receive a birdhouse built by Bruce.

We are very excited to announce two new ways to volunteer with Twin Cities Habitat! One of these roles was developed to assist families that are interested in our programs and services, and the other is part of a pilot program we're launching to support our new Age in Place (AIP) work. Read about these new roles below and be sure to express interest if you're willing to lend a hand!

Coupled with the excitement of volunteering for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is fear that I’ll screw up. Which I do. Quite often.  In any other job, I would have been “let go” long ago. But my supervisor Dave Madzo grins and bears my presence every Wednesday and I am, by fits and starts, learning valuable skills.

Dave Engh is a long-term volunteer who has been with Habitat since 1993 and has gotten involved in many different ways. Dave is the current crew leader for our St. Andrews volunteers, and he's regularly out on site with The 3Mgives Habitat Project. He also repairs Habitat tools at our warehouse, which saves a lot of time and money. One of Dave's favorite volunteer roles is serving as a Neighborhood Family Partner for many families. In this role, Dave gets to see the homeowners after they are living in their new home and gets to check-in with them on a regular basis.