I volunteered to go to a Habitat for Humanity Service Project today with our Scouts.
The Young men in our ward are working on one of the last requirements needed for their Citizenship in the Community merit badge, which has a daunting 8 hr service project that benefits the community.
We decided we would break it up into at least 2 different projects. Project 1, was Habitat for Humanity. (I'm not sure what Project 2 will be, but I'm sure I'll be apart of it.)
We met at the church at 10:30am and got home around 3pm. Once we got to Habitat for Humanity we sat and listened to the mission of what Habitat for Humanity does for the community.
Here are some interesting facts that I didn't know.
Habitat for Humanity was started in 1976.
They build homes for people, however instead of giving them a free house, they make them work on the house, or if they don't have any skills to do so, they require them to come volunteer in their store. Once the house is complete, they still don't give them the house without payment, but rather give the person a 0 percent interest loan for the cost of the house. This way the people are more responsible with their new home. Hmm where have I heard these concepts before?
Last year in Utah county, there were 95 applicants for a home to be built by Habitat for Humanity. They were only able to build 5 due to resource constraints. (read money) The biggest constraint is the price of land.
Another interesting thing I learned was that Habitat partners are encouraged to donate a tenth of what they raise in support of house building in another country. The estimated average cost for building a house overseas is only $4,200. Compared to about $120,000 cost of a home in Utah County. It's amazing there is such a difference in cost.
After listening to an overview of what Habitat for Humanity was, we were given different assignments to help. During the 4+ hours at Habitat for Humanity, we cleaned out the store, arranged items and even removed stoves and refrigerators from a house to be resold at the store. Their store is like a DI or Goodwill for housing items.
While we were serving some of the boys helped an older gentleman with his purchased items to his car. This gentleman followed the boys back into the store, found the other leader I was with and said that he wasn't sure what group of boys we had there serving but he wanted to make a contribute to our group. The leader told him we were a Boy Scout troop and took his contribution (a few dollars) and thanked him. We then contributed right back to Habitat for Humanity.
Even though I was away from my family for such a long time on Saturday, it was a great experience and one I would do again.
A lot of the service projects I've done it the past have been helping friends and neighbors, which is great, however it was a good feeling to help Habitat for Humanity make a difference, even if it was only for 4 hours on a Saturday.
After I got home, we went to a BYU Basketball game at the Marriott Center. I can't really call it a game, as BYU won by 20 or so points, after they had their 3rd string guys in for the last quarter. The kids enjoyed being in the Marriott Center and seeing the game. The Marriott Center was pretty much full. After the game, we went to one of our favorite places to eat, Cafe Rio.
