Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian organization dedicated to eliminating substandard housing worldwide. Habitat brings together people with resources and people in need to build simple, decent, and affordable houses.
The 2006 Habitat team sent by St. Peter's Church to Buffalo, NY,
accompanied by members of the Somalian homeowners-to-be, the Mohamould
family
On June 28, 2004, St. Peter’s Habitat group participated in a house blessing ceremony in which Keith and Tricia Good received the keys to their new home. In 2000, Keith suffered a near-fatal job injury that put him out of work. Tricia, caring for their two children and her mother with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, went back to work to support her family. On June 28th, nearly 100 people formed a human prayer chain around the Good’s new home. Tearfully, Tricia thanked God, Habitat for Humanity, and the hundreds of volunteers who had worked on her home for over a year. “After all we’ve gone through,” Tricia said, “we finally have a home.”
Since the founding of Habitat for Humanity in 1976:
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It has provided more than 175,000 homes for 750,000 people in 3000 communities around the world.
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The homes are sold at no profit to those in need through no-interest loans. Homeowners’ mortgage payments go to building more Habitat homes.
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In addition to the down payment and monthly mortgage, homeowners are required to put in hundreds of hours of “sweat equity” by building Habitat homes.
Volunteer Opportunities
St. Peter’s Habitat for Humanity experience is a week-long volunteer
opportunity. At its heart, this annual trip is an experience that seeks to
provide St. Peter’s youth with a broadened understanding of how to serve God
through hands-on volunteering in an environment that is both spiritually
fulfilling and transforming. Adults in the parish are encouraged to
participate, offering to our youth a model of how to live a life in Christ.
Time commitment: 1 week, beginning the last Sunday in June.
Skills required: No special skills or expertise are necessary to
participate, just a willingness to serve God and learn how to do something
new.
Read the 2006 Habitat Retrospective, detailing a return to our friends at the Buffalo Chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Read the
2005
Habitat Blog for first-hand details on all that was
accomplished in Buffalo, New York on St. Peter’s 5th Annual Habitat for
Humanity mission trip. .
Read our
2004 Habitat blog describing our mission
trip to Franklin, West Virginia.
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In 2005 the St. Peter's team worked on the Buffalo, NY home of
Shawntrell Johnson,
shown with her fiancé, Joe Patton, and her children Mya (4), Emonni (5), and
Jason (11) [photo taken at our daily noon Eucharist]
Contact Information
For more information about St. Peter’s annual Habitat for Humanity
mission trip, please contact the
Rev. Nancy Webb Stroud or at 610-644-2261. Click to learn more
about the world-wide ministry of
Habitat for Humanity. To learn about the
Habitat affiliate in Buffalo please
visit them here.
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The Rev. Nancy Webb Stroud , 2006 team leader, celebrates daily noon
Eucharist
at the construction site.