By Melissa Marlowe, Special to JTNews
Michele Blue is seriously contemplating purchasing a tool belt. Ever since stepping onto her first worksite in 1996, she felt it would be a helpful asset to the volunteer work she does; right now, Blue is building her ninth home.
A Mercer Island native, Blue spent more time with her ballet shoes than building blocks as a child. However, since her first experience with a Habitat for Humanity project, she’s been hooked.
“I got involved with Habitat through my sorority at Washington University as an undergraduate, and I enjoyed it,” she says, “but I didn’t necessarily envision a long term commitment at that time.”
When Blue returned to Seattle after receiving her Master’s degree from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, she sought out the volunteer experience once again.
“I wanted to give back to the community, but I also really wanted to meet people, since I had been away for a few years,” she says.
Unexpectedly, becoming a long-term volunteer was a lengthy and involved process. After completing her application, Blue was put on a five-month waiting list for a Saturday team. Luckily the time gave Blue the opportunity to wrangle a beau and convince him to join her on the worksite. An engineer by trade, Marc Silbey was a natural leader at Habitat.
“I can remember that our first day on our first site was less than perfect,” recalls Blue, “it was December, and the weather was miserable and we had to be there at 8:30 a.m. We may have reconsidered our decision at that point.”
But something about the satisfaction associated with building, and the cohesiveness of the team kept them coming back.
Blue and Silbey’s Third Saturday group is a mix of young professionals, some with architectural skills, some who are engineers, and some who are just there to help. On the third Saturday of each month, these unlikely strangers spend the better part of their day working as a team to build a home. Participants are only allowed to miss two months a year before their spot is given to a replacement, so after a few years of being together, team members have seen one another through major life events.
“There have a few job losses, an engagement, and bereavement, but the building acts as a constant,” comments Blue. On each project, the team includes a few special members. The future homeowners contribute to the construction efforts in “100 hours of sweat equity.” It’s a mandate in the Habitat contract.
According to their Web site, since 1976 Habitat has built more than 50,000 houses with families throughout the United States and another 100,000-plus houses in communities around the world. Now at work in 92 countries, they complete a house every 26 minutes. By 2005, Habitat houses will shelter 1 million people.
The houses are sold at no profit, with no interest charged on the mortgage. Homeowner families are chosen according to need, their ability to repay the mortgage, and their willingness to work in partnership with Habitat. Habitat for Humanity does not discriminate according to race, religion or ethnic group. Individual organizations and faith-based communities provide financial support.
Though Habitat is a Christian-based organization, the growing participation of Jewish, Islamic and other religious organizations reflects those groups’ commitment to acting out their faith by helping people in need. Habitat has an admirable record of interfaith partnerships, and in August of 2003, a Seattle Interfaith group of 14 congregations joined forces to build Habitat homes in Redmond.
The organization is often identified as a tangible service opportunity in which group of diverse participants could work in unison for the common good of their community.
Blue attributes the popularity of the program to what the Habitat organization represents, “an excellent grassroots program that is able to help people locally.” Blue says the feeling of satisfaction stays with her long after she’s completed a project. She and Silbey often drive by a finished home near their new site; a few months ago it was re-bar, concrete and dream; now they can see curtains hanging in the window.
To learn more about local opportunities with Habitat for Humanity, visit the Seattle website at www.seattle-habitat.org or call 206-292-5240.
Transcript Trendsetters focuses on members of the local Jewish community under age 35 who are making a difference in people’s lives. Do you know of someone who should be a Trendsetter? Let us know by calling 206-441-4553 or sending an e-mail to [email protected]