Home, community, and hope – how do you fit in?

Lakes Area Habitat For Humanity builds homes, community and hope. 

The above statement is the driver of our mission – to build enough homes through engaging the community as volunteer builders so that all who are in need of decent, affordable housing have hope of a better future for themselves.

That statement packs quite a punch. And, it is a call to action.

BUILDING HOMES
Perhaps the easiest and most quantifiable part of the statement, building homes is, well, exactly that! Since the first home completed in Brainerd in 1991, LAHFH is proud to announce that 130 homes have been built in 34 years. Those homes are scattered throughout the four counties we serve with an understandable concentration in the Brainerd-Baxter communities. With that said, there are Habitat built homes in nearly every community in the four counties including communities with populations less than 500 people!

And, what makes this even more amazing, is that we build homes with volunteer labor – everything from framing walls, setting trusses, installing windows and doors, installing siding, painting, installing flooring, setting interior doors, finishing trim work and so much more. The point being, we need a LOT of volunteers to do our work!

BUILDING COMMUNITIES
The method of our builds – using volunteers – is a key piece of building communities. By inviting community members who want to make a difference, or who simply want to learn new skills, we bring people together for a common purpose: to help solve a critical housing shortage in our communities. Too many area residents are housing impoverished. This includes homeless residents who sleep in cars, tents or double up with anyone with a couch or floor to sleep on. This includes those who spend more on housing than they can afford making decisions of who to pay or not pay this week a constant struggle. In fact, over half of area residents pay more than 30% of their income on housing and more disturbing is that over 20% of area residents pay more than 50% of their income on housing.

By bringing more volunteers to build sites, we are also creating more awareness of the need for more housing in our communities. And that awareness creates more urgency to make our communities better.

BUILDING HOPE
This is the truly unquantifiable part of our work, but it is by far the most rewarding and uplifting. Taking calls or visiting in person with people who want to apply for a Habitat home is an important reason we strive to do more, to build more and to reach more families. Hearing how hard people work to maintain a roof over their heads and hearing frustration at having no solutions for something better is rough. But then we can share what we do and the sparkle of hope shows – faces light up! Many have shared that even if not chosen for a Habitat home, they are thankful to learn someone is trying to help. And, for those selected and homes are built and keys are handed over – it is the most joy-filled celebration to witness.

All this brings us to the basic, fundamental need we have and is our CALL TO ACTION: become a volunteer with us! Working with us matters – it matters to our ability to build more homes, and it matters to our communities. YOU can make a difference!

• To volunteer, contact us at 218-454-7021 or visit Volunteer – Lakes Area Habitat
• To donate, contact Lori at 218-454-7019 or visit Donate – Lakes Area Habitat

In peace,

Kevin Pelkey, Executive Director​​​​​​​