River Hills United Methodist Church: Twelve Years of Service

By Habitat Staff

This past National Volunteer Week  marked the 12^th anniversary of River Hills United Methodist Church volunteering with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this past week they brought out full crews to the panel plant to build wall frames for our summer builds. The crews were led by Emma Melin, Deacon of Confirmation & Nurture Ministries, and Kurt Triebenbach, Volunteer Worship Leader. (Photo: Volunteers from River Hills United Methodist Church with Panel Plant Supervisor Mike Ellison on Friday, April 17^th.)

River Hills UMC brings full crews out for three days at time in the fall and spring. Their focus on wall panels ensures that our summer builds will all have their panels built by the time the builds start. For National Volunteer Week I joined them out at the panel plant for lunch this past Friday. I brought them cookies to thank them for their time and hard work. I sat down and chatted with a few of the volunteers.

It was fun to chat with them over their lunch hour and snap a few pictures.  Everyone had a different story and asked really interesting questions about Habitat. It’s always a joy to see volunteers on the “other side.” Last year I served Habitat as an AmeriCorps member and I worked out on site with volunteers every day. This year I mainly schedule volunteer groups. I might connect with volunteer coordinators over email and phone calls to coordinate logistics and send out mailings, so I see a lot of names but not as many faces. That’s why visits out to site even for just a short time always brings me joy. I am constantly impressed by the longevity of some of our volunteer connections. This group has been coming working hard with hammers in hand to create tangible, powerful change in their community.