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Thank You to Our Volunteers!
Thank you one and all for your participation in our Habitat for Humanity build in Hillsdale. Most of our sponsors for this build came through with volunteers from their organizations. Scheduled group-member volunteers from churches, companies, schools and other non-profit organizations and individual volunteers augmented these efforts by working on the houses and doing side tasks as needed.
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As we wind up work on the last three houses in Hillsdale, images of the many, many volunteers flash through our minds: volunteers tackling our new ICF foundations and enjoying the challenges of these grown-up Lego blocks; the Washington University students who persevered as they dug footings in the rain with tons of soggy clay adhering to their shoes and rain dripping off their noses; the university student cyclists from North Carolina who worked one day on a Habitat build before they continued to cycle across the country; the very hot days of summer as volunteers consumed Gatorade or water every hour; the dedication evident in a small neighborhood church whose very rafters could hardly contain the heartfelt emotions of the day; the devotion felt on the street where well-wishers gathered and the sky was the limit for the outpouring of happiness and gratitude; and back again to volunteers being challenged by two houses using ICF from footings to roof - the first of their kind in our area.
We send our many thanks to all the volunteers who were on the build sites for the more than 3,840 hours per house. We marvel at the physical evidence of what our hands can do together and we have learned first-hand that it takes many hands partnering with our homebuyers and our staff to create a sanctuary of spirit. What we may not see as easily are all the many volunteers who help out off the build site: those who help with data entry; those who work on the minute details of the homebuyer application; those who hold the hands of the homebuyers and help lead them to successfully create a home of their own; those who do hours of planning, drawing, providing legal work for our real estate endeavors; those who address our construction and safety issues; those who request donations of money, resources, auction items, food for volunteers, and inkind donations; and those who spread the Habitat word by sharing their experiences and talents to stir others to help Habitat. 
Some of the donations resulting from the many hours of efforts by our volunteers are used to say "thank you" to our volunteers! Last spring our "132 Reasons Why We Love Our Volunteers" was our first such event as we gathered to enjoy the success our organization has realized in putting 132 families into homes! We'd especially like to thank St. Louis Supermarkets, LeGrand Catering Service and Grocery Market, Nestle Purina and Botanicals on the Park for their donations to that event. Another event recognized the many hours, much sweat, stress, talent, work, and aching muscles of those who are our volunteer leaders on site - the House Leaders and the Crew Leaders. In this first celebration of its kind, those who typically are last to leave on our sites each work day were treated as first in our Habitat hearts! All our volunteers are special and although we cannot always recognize them, all are needed to carry on our Habitat mission. Thank you!
Although the success of a build depends on the many talents of all of our volunteers, the success of our physical build depends on the recruiting, training and support of our construction leadership. We have a great need for committed volunteers who desire to learn to build homes the Habitat way and who will become leaders who direct semi-skilled and unskilled volunteers in the tasks required to build a home. As we plan twenty homes for our next build, we are faced with the great challenge of finding many volunteers who will help lead, help train leaders and help teach our homebuyers the rudiments of carpentry. Call or email us immediately if you can help!
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