Habitat Update
Generous Giving
by Kimberly McKinney
Through a program with Habitat for Humanity International, I recently attended a Tithing Conference in Guatemala, which included participants from various United States affiliates, National Directors of the Central American area and Habitat International staff. It was a great opportunity to listen and learn about this healthy principle that greatly blesses areas outside the United States. With tithing from the year 2002 alone, 2,223 families are new Habitat partners!
Neither pictures nor words can describe the housing conditions that face many in Guatemala. If you have ever heard the phrase, “reality bites,” it is amazingly appropriate to this experience. Corrugated metal and scrap wood for walls, dirt or (for a lucky few) concrete for floors.
The part that I and, based on my conversations, others in attendance wrestle with is how we can make a difference for those living in these alarming conditions while, simultaneously, working to raise funds and provide decent housing for people in need in our own regions. The only way I can answer this within my own heart is that we continue working diligently – daily, weekly, monthly – to house one more family. Our goal is to never become “comfortable” with our success but to be challenged by the need in a way that makes it impossible not to continue trying to do more. We should be motivated knowing that by working in partnership to house “one more family,” the number 2,223 cited above could double or even triple.
In this issue of the Cornerstone, you will hear of our 2003 plans and the impact better housing has on a neighborhood. I think that the calling for each of us, especially in times like these, is to redefine our definition of neighborhood…to realize that, in God’s eyes, we are ALL neighbors; from door to door, block to block and even across boundaries drawn by oceans. We are all neighbors. Let’s build neighborhoods together!
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