Habitat for Humanity, among the major housing leaders in Berks County for neighborhood revitalization, is launching a new program called “Hands for Habitat”, an awareness campaign designed to reach out to volunteers in the Berks Community. Volunteerism is vital to the success of Habitat’s mission of providing affordable housing and homeownership opportunities for its client families.
For those interested in volunteering, a widespread Hands for Habitat kick-off event is planned for Sunday, Oct. 19, at 1 p.m. at the ReStore, featuring a complimentary light lunch and t-shirts for registering volunteers.
“When most people think about volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, they envision working at a construction site, swinging a hammer, providing manual labor rehabbing homes,” said Habitat for Humanity’s executive director, Tim Daley. “While volunteering in that capacity is certainly important to Habitat’s mission, there are other opportunities to help support our cause such as volunteering at our retail location, the ReStore.”
The ReStore is one of the prime sources of funding for Habitat’s mission, selling gently used furniture, building supplies, appliances, crafts, books and collectibles. The ReStore is located in the Walmart Shopping Plaza, 5370 Allentown Pike in Temple. Volunteers are needed at the ReStore to pick up donations, arrange and display merchandise, and provide customer service to shoppers.
“Habitat for Humanity’s approach to volunteerism needs to be a win-win, for the organization and the volunteer,” said Helen Marie Palumbo, Family Services Director at Habitat who spearheads volunteering efforts at the organization. “We’re so focused on providing a quality experience for all of our volunteers, including students looking to learn from a real-life work experience and build their resumes for future career development, to retirees willing to share their skills and knowledge while socially interacting with others. We want the time they spend with Habitat to be memorable and rewarding.”
The need for additional volunteers through Hands for Habitat came as a result of the increasing demand of project work to be completed by Habitat to improve our community. The Hands for Habitat initiative is the next step in Habitat’s plan for growth and meaningful volunteer opportunities.
Those planning to attend the Hands for Habitat Event Sunday, Oct. 19 at the ReStore should contact: Helen Marie Palumbo at 610-373-3439 x 301 or email: hpalumbo@habitatberks.org.
Habitat for Humanity of Berks County is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization which exists to create affordable homeownership opportunities for moderate income families. Families who purchase Habitat for Humanity homes must first volunteer 400 hours, which include construction labor and financial education classes as a contribution we call “sweat equity.” Homes are sold to families at no profit and are financed by Habitat for Humanity of Berks County. The payments made by families on their mortgages are then used to build more homes in the community. We rely on volunteers and families’ sweat equity hours for the “un-skilled” labor needed to build the homes. Working in this way, we believe we provide families a “hand-up” rather than a “hand-out”, while also providing volunteer opportunities that allow people to assist hard-working families in our community. Habitat for Humanity of Berks County’s currently sees its bigger mission to help the City of Reading’s recovery by partnering with Our City Reading (OCR), Reading Redevelopment Authority, Reading Housing Authority and the City of Reading. HFHBC’s 20/20 vision includes renovating 30 – 35 additional homes by 2020 and expanding our impact to grow to meet the needs of the City of Reading by impacting families and neighborhoods.
