If you are one of the handful of folks who read my blog, you know I’ve been sharing short stories for the last several weeks. I’ve shared all I have for the moment. I’m working on one, but it’s still quite early in the pen-and-paper stage. The story is complex enough in my mind that it may end up being several thousand words, so I make no promises as to when that will appear here. In the meantime, I don’t want to lose the momentum I’ve gained by posting something weekly for a while. As I’m not actively working on my novel rewrites and the short story is still quite gelatinous, I thought it would be nice to talk about something unrelated to my writing. But what? I’m just not good at coming up with topics, so I did what all good bloggers do–I looked on Pinterest. One of the sites I found suggested, among about a hundred other things, that I write about a charity I really believe in. When I saw that, it took me all of a millisecond to decide which one.

One of my first memories of the neighborhood where I grew up in south Parkersburg was a family who lived about a half-block away from us. I won’t share their name in case any of them are still around and read this, but the best way I can describe them is to compare them to the Bumpuses in the holiday classic A Christmas Story. They didn’t have 785 smelly hound dogs, but it seemed like they had nearly that many people living in the tiny shack they called home. I never understood where they all slept until I went for a visit and found they had mattresses all over and some of the kids slept on couches and chairs–wherever they could fit someone. I couldn’t imagine living in such cramped, squalid conditions. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the sad truth that those folks were representative of a much-too-large segment of the population in the Mid-Ohio Valley where I live. That made me really sad. All I could think as a Christian was that it seemed like believers should be doing something about it. I remember saying that to someone. Don’t recall who, but I do recall their telling me there was a group of believers who were doing something about it. It was called Wood County Habitat for Humanity.

Wood County Habitat in West Virginia has since merged with Washington County Habitat in Ohio to form Habitat For Humanity of the Mid-Ohio Valley. This organization is an affiliate of Habitat For Humanity International (HFHI), whose roots go all the way back to the 1940s, with the founding of Koinonia Farms, a community farm in Americus, Georgia.

According to the HFHI website, Koinonia’s Partnership Housing Program, which would eventually spawn HFHI, under the leadership of Koinonia’s Clarence Jordan and future Habitat founders Millard and Linda Fuller, saw the need to find a way to provide decent, affordable housing to those who otherwise could not afford it. By using a network of volunteers, including those for whom the houses were being built, and donations from individuals and organizations, the idea of providing a nice, clean, affordable house for everyone came into being. Homeowners would provide what is now known as “sweat equity” and would buy the house with an interest-free loan from the organization. The loan would cover the cost of the building, with no profit being taken. Each homeowner’s mortgage payments would be combined with donations to build the next house.

That model is the one that Habitat still uses today. And it has made a huge difference in the lives of countless people all around the world. In the Mid-Ohio Valley alone, over the past thirty years, Habitat has built over one hundred homes, providing adequate, affordable housing for over five hundred people. One of the things I love most about this ministry is that it doesn’t just hand out homes, but allows homeowners to have the dignity of being able to say they paid their own way, through working on their own and others’ homes and by paying a mortgage.

But Habitat doesn’t just plop these folks in a house and move on. They work with homeowners by sponsoring workshops on topics such as home maintenance and money management and by helping those who are struggling to pay their mortgage. They will do all within their power to keep from having to foreclose on a house. To put someone out of a Habitat home goes against their mission and vison, which are to put the love of God into action by making a world in which everyone has a decent place to live. Along with building homes, Habitat MOV has recently begun working with other local organizations to provide minor home repairs and upgrades, such as wheelchair ramps.

I could go on and on about Habitat. I haven’t even mentioned the Habitat Restore. That will have to be for another post. I am just so excited to be a part of this organization. You may be asking how you can support such a worthy cause. There are so many ways! The easiest is through financial support. It could be a one-time donation, or you could join the Carpenter’s Club, through which you’ll commit to donating each time Habitat completes a home. Lots of folks even put Habitat in their wills! But money is only one of many ways to lift up Habitat. From providing meals for volunteers to volunteering your time and talents to shopping at the Restore, there are myriad ways to be a part of this beautiful ministry. All you need to do to get started is go to habitatmov.com and click on Donate or Volunteer. You can also go there to find out how to apply to become a homeowner yourself or to get help with a repair in your home.

Do you have questions? You can leave them here and if I don’t have an answer, I am sure I have friends who do. I’d also love to hear from folks who have been impacted by Habitat. I look forward to your comments.

I got information for this article from habitatmov.com and from habitat.org.