Sweat Equity: Day 2

With just a handful of hours left to complete for my sweat equity, another PHC member and I decided to sign up for another build day with Habitat for Humanity.  The weather was a bit chilly this morning so Risa and I were happy to find out that we would be inside painting.  There were a lot of people running around the house (including a handful of National AmeriCorps members and alumni) so we were able to get the house painted pretty quickly.  We were definitely getting things done, AmeriCorps style.  

The house had been donated to Habitat over a year ago and when the renovations started they had a family ready to move in.  Unfortunately the adults of the family had lost their jobs and as a result the organization has been looking for someone else to take over the house.  Habitat does not give families/individuals housing.  Instead home owners must complete their own sweat equity on  their house by working on their home, at their ReStore site and/or in their administrative offices.  Families are also responsible for paying for a portion of their new home.  Instead of giving mortgage payments to a bank, the family pays Habitat instead.  The great part about this system is that if payments are late the interest rate is crazy low (.03%) and families can work with the organization to reschedule and/or adjust their payment pans. 

While I have successfully finished my sweat equity hours some other members and I are hoping to sign up for a few more build days, especially when the weather starts to get nicer.