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Promotion
Because the need for decent housing is so widespread, Habitat for Humanity believes the response must be equally widespread. Habitat actively seeks to engage in its work everyone who wants to be involved. Religion is no barrier. Age is no barrier. Neither is race, nationality, gender, building experience, nor station in life.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been Habitat for Humanity’s most famous volunteer. Each year since 1984, he and his wife Rosalynn, joined by thousands of other volunteers, have devoted a week of time, sweat, and skills to building houses during the Jimmy Carter Work Project. More than 1,000 houses have resulted from those efforts.
Habitat also has attracted thousands of other notable names from the worlds of music, film, sports, business, television, and politics. From actors to agents, comedians to cornerbacks, singers to senators . . . all have been eager and frequent participants on Habitat building sites throughout the world.
Corporate partners are vital to Habitat for Humanity’s work, contributing dollars, products, professional services, and house-building labor. Whirlpool, for example, donates stoves and refrigerators for Habitat homes built in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Lowe’s underwrites sponsorship of Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program. Andersen Corporation committed to build 100 houses to mark its 100th anniversary. The Lions Clubs International Foundation provides grants to affiliates to build homes with those living with physical and mental disabilities. Scores of other corporate partners help in a wide variety of ways.
Everyday people are the backbone of Habitat’s building efforts. Retirees travel in their RVs to help build homes; high school and college students give up their breaks to build; women build houses through special Women Build projects; people use vacations to go on Habitat for Humanity Global Village trips to build houses elsewhere in the world; church congregations sponsor and build homes; offenders help build houses through the Prison Partnership program.
The stories of those efforts and the need for housing are told in Habitat for Humanity’s award-winning magazine, Habitat World; on its highly trafficked Web site, www.habitat.org; and through videos, photos, public service announcements, news releases, and newsletters. Special-event builds, such as the Jimmy Carter Work Project, Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity Build, Congress Building America, and Building on Faith Week also help bring visibility to the organization.
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