Shake off the Winter Blues and Volunteer!

Volunteering with Habitat is not only a great way to help people; it’s also a great way to build your skills, strengthen your resume, and meet awesome people who care.

Who knows—you could meet your future employer while volunteering. Habitat has a variety of positions, so you can likely find one that fits your schedule as well as your abilities and interests. If you like to work directly with the people you’re helping, we’ve got plenty of positions where you can work face-to-face with homebuyers. If you have a prowess for all things office related, we’d love to have your fast-flying fingers and keen eyes. If you want to put your management skills to the test, we’ve got volunteer leadership positions waiting for you to take charge. Or if you like good old fashion construction, we’ve got plenty of work to do, even throughout the winter (indoors, with space heaters nearby).

Here are four ways you can work with Habitat you may not have known about:

Family Services Volunteering:

The Family Services department works with families from the time they’re interested in applying for a Habitat home to their introduction to their new home and neighborhood. To do this, we rely on volunteers to help interview families interested in applying for a Habitat home, to help with outreach at information fairs and community centers, and to support families in their first year of home ownership. These volunteer positions are a great way to engage with the community that you’re helping, and to hone your interpersonal skills.

ReStore Volunteering

ReStore volunteers stock and staff the ReStore, the Habitat discount building supply store. This position involves leading other groups of volunteers and helping new volunteers during their orientation. This is a great opportunity if you’re looking to gain leadership and management experience. Shifts are generally four hours.

Winter and Spring Construction and ABWK (A Brush With Kindness) Volunteering

Animals hole up in the winter, but Habitat volunteers keep building in spite of the cold. Specifically, they work on home interiors through our A Brush with Kindness program. Winter is the time of year that we generally have the biggest shortage of construction volunteers, so if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at putting together a Habitat house, now is when we need you the most. 

Data Entry for the Project Management Department Volunteering

This is a great way to get office experience and to show off your words-per-minute. Getting familiar with Microsoft Office software is a great way to enhance your resume, as virtually every office job requires some familiarity with programs like Excel and Word. 

Contributed by Matt Beachey