By Collin Quigley, AmeriCorps Member & Volunteer Coordinator Last week, a group of us from Habitat MontDelco attended Habitat for Humanity International’s annual “Habitat on the Hill” conference. “Habitat on the Hill” normally includes hundreds of members of the wider Habitat family gathering in the capitol for days of learning, reflection, and advocacy. The conference follows a “teach-in” model, where...
By Kate Courter, Resources Development VISTA This year Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery and Delaware Counties is honored to participate in Habitat for Humanity International’s 13th official Women Build week. In the week leading up to International Women’s Day Habitat affiliates across the country and the world will be calling on women to raise a hammer to highlight the...
By Collin Quigley, AmeriCorps Member & Volunteer Coordinator A question I am often asked is how to lend a hand to Habitat during this time of virtual engagement and social distancing. Here are seven ways you could help out safely from home. Advocate to your federal, state, and local officials for fairer housing policies.From the...
By Kate Courter, Americorps Member & Resource Development Coordinator Owning a house is so much more than holding the deed to 4 walls and a roof. Affordable homeownership helps create the conditions that free families from instability, stress and fear and encourages self-reliance and confidence. Studies show that strong and stable households are foundational to...
By Samantha Walker, AmeriCorps Family Services Coordinator Here at Habitat MontDelco our mission is pretty simple- we bring people together to build homes, communities and hope. One of our core programs where our mission shines bright is Almost Home. Almost Home is our financial empowerment program, and it consists of several weeks’ worth of classes that cover topics ranging from budgeting, credit & debt to investing, saving, all the way to home-buying tips. It’s free and open...
By Kate Courter, Americorps Member & Resource Development Coordinator August 28th was a rainier day than expected. Just minutes before the keys were presented to our newest Habitat MontDelco homeowner, it was down pouring. That did not stop the gathered band of donors, volunteers, government officials, staff, and family from celebrating this special moment for...
By Collin Quigley, AmeriCorps Member & Volunteer Coordinator The mission of Habitat MontDelco is through by putting “love in action,” to build homes, communities, and hope. We know that activating our mission is not something that we do alone. In celebration of Veteran’s Day, we were so happy to join one of our military families...
By Collin Quigley, AmeriCorps Member & Volunteer Coordinator Part of me is always going to be in the driver’s seat of my rented Nissan Pathfinder (or “Rocky” as we nicknamed it), trudging up the hilly, unpaved peak of one of Appalachia’s many mountaintops. It was a beautiful afternoon last March, where my spring-break immersion participants...
In so many ways, this has been a tough year for me to feel grateful. The last twelve months have brought some challenges that have been difficult to move past and I’m a bit in limbo and not sure where I will land. At points in my life like this, I double-down on gratitude, even...
A recent in finding in the 2018 State of World Volunteerism Report suggest that local volunteering is a fundamental coping strategy for communities in crisis. The report presented new evidence that more than 1 billion people volunteer globally, and that local volunteerism enables collective strategies for managing risk. Volunteers are the invaluable resource that sustains nonprofit organizations, especially for those...
