Carpenter's Club Donor Spotlight

Guest Blog by Blake MacKenzie, 
Twin Cities Habitat Staff 

As part of the Carpenter’s Club, Lois Humbert is a sustaining monthly donor for Twin Cities Habitat.

She saw the impact of Habitat first-hand when a woman from her unit in Mary Kay purchased a Habitat home near Ashland, Wisconsin. The single mom had to put many hours of sweat equity into her home.

“I saw how she had to take more accountability and pride in her home because of that,” Lois said.

Lois liked that Habitat instills strength, stability, and self-reliance through sweat equity and good training for homebuyers, so she decided to start supporting Habitat. It was also important to her to keep the support local: “By staying local, I am putting back into the place I live. It feels good to be able to take care of the people in my own community.”

It is also important for her to make sure she can keep her support within her budget, and help Habitat’s budget planning at the same time. That’s why she chose an automatic, recurring monthly gift with the Carpenter’s Club. This way, Lois can make changes to her gifts at any time, and easily keep track of all the different organizations she supports.

Lois is a scrupulous businessperson with Mary Kay, and only gives to causes that have a high percentage of funds going directly to the programs, like the Mary Kay Foundation. Habitat fits that bill. If it didn’t, she wouldn’t have become a donor.

Without Twin Cities Habitat, Lois thinks there would be a lot less people in their own homes. Additionally, she says, “More people would be more dependent on service organizations that are already strapped.”

For Lois, owning her own home means a lot. “It means security, a home base, safety, ownership, a source of pride for families.” And it means a lot to be able to make home happen for other Twin Cities families. A stable, affordable home means kids can stay in the same school, parents can plan for the future, and families can build stronger roots in their community.