Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity (AAHH) recognized its “core” Construction Services volunteers with a breakfast event at Warren Wilson College this week. Core volunteers are those who help Habitat build and repair homes on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Last year, these core volunteers helped Asheville Area Habitat build 14 new Habitat houses in Swannanoa, Shiloh and West Asheville. They also repaired 33 existing homes in Buncombe County.
In 2014, 74 core construction
volunteers collectively contributed more than 16,000 hours of service to
Asheville Area Habitat! To put that in perspective, last year 1,700 individuals
volunteered on a construction site, collectively providing a whopping 35,000
hours of service! 46% of those total hours (16,000 hours) were completed by
just 74 individuals - the “core” volunteers!
Among this core group, were 10 individuals who contributed
more than 300 hours and one who topped the scale at more than 600 hours! Habitat
congratulated and thanked:
CJ
Obara 640 hours
Dick
Allen 622
Ken
Clark 454
Bob
Laveck 424
Jerry
Ray 407
Bill
Reid 343
Ray
Ducharme 321
Kevin
Cox 316
Ross
Akin 315
Paul
Finegan 309
In total, 32 core construction volunteers were
recognized for contributing more than 250 hours of service last year, each
receiving a golden hammer to signify the milestone.
Habitat also recognized those who hit significant
longevity milestones. The honorees were:
10 Year Award – Alan Lang
and CJ Obara
15 Year Award – Ted Faber
and Cliff Joslin
“While these
folks don’t volunteer for the recognition or the accolades, we feel it’s
important to thank them and honor the immense contribution they make to our
organization and the community at large.
Without volunteers - especially the cores who we can
count on week after week - we would not be able to build and preserve
communities,” notes executive director Lew Kraus.
In addition to Construction volunteers, Habitat
utilizes volunteers in the ReStore, administrative office and on committees.
These volunteers are recognized in separate appreciate events. Collectively and
across the entire organization, nearly 2,100 volunteers contribute more than 64,000
hours to Asheville Area Habitat in 2014.
With a volunteer hour valued by Independent Sector
at more $21/hour, this equates to a “gift” of more than $1.3million. Volunteer
labor helps keep construction costs low and houses therefore affordable to the
families who purchase them (from Habitat). Kraus added, “The Habitat model only
works with a strong volunteer component. We cannot overstate the value of
volunteers to our organization.”
To learn more about volunteering with Asheville Area
Habitat for Humanity, visit ashevillehabitat.org and click the Volunteer
button, or call 828-251-5702.
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