I’m Carol Evans and 22 years ago I finished my post-graduate degree. I had read articles about Habitat and knew our church was a covenant partner and I decided this was something I needed to explore. I walked onto a Habitat work site in the Lathrop School area, introduced myself and said, “Put me to work.” Of course, my first job was hauling excess gravel out of a basement while decking was being pounded above our heads. Hildy Greenlee and I hauled and leveled most of the morning. We were told they would send down more help, but people came down, partially filled a 5 gallon bucket, went up the stairs, and never returned.

Saturdays soon became working with Habitat days.

For my next birthday Chuck gave me a tool box stuffed with all the basics – a new tool belt, hammer, tape, spud-square, chalk line… the works. By then he was also coming to the site, teaching me how to run power tools and frame walls.

I tell you this story because it shows the importance of people supporting one another. Chuck knew the extent of my abilities (in middle school I scored in the 33rd percentile in mechanical abilities), but he also wanted, and needed, to help others. So, he got me tools, taught me skills, and even cleaned the house while I was at Habitat. It’s this kind of support I want to highlight today, the kind of support and partnership that is the foundation of this ministry.

Habitat is partnership – partnership between Habitat and families needing homes; partnership between Habitat and volunteers; partnership between volunteers and families; partnership among the volunteers themselves. There is also another extremely important Habitat partnership that is not always recognized – the partnership between volunteers and their spouses, families, friends, and significant others.

We often think of Habitat volunteers as those women and men who work in ReStore and in the warehouse, as those women and men who frame up the houses and shingle roofs, who put up siding and install cabinets, who paint walls and do the final clean-up. I want to remind you that every person [can be] a partner in the ministry of Habitat. You may never have sorted items in the ReStore or arranged pallets in the warehouse. You may never have pounded a nail or raised a wall. You may never have set foot on a work site, but each of you is an important partner in this ministry. When you sacrifice your time with someone you love so that he or she can work with Habitat, you share in this ministry. When you encourage your spouse, your family, your friend, your significant other to use her talents, to use his skills to help others have simple, decent housing, you share in this ministry. When you pray for our partner families, for our office staff, for safety on the job sites, you share in this ministry. Whether we physically work with this ministry or provide support for those who do the physical labor, we are all partners in God’s plan to provide homes for all of God’s people.

You are God’s love in our community.