Habitat’s History of Giving
By: Elizabeth Black
Dawson Springs High School

 “Home means freedom.”
    Those are the words of Omar Muse, the father of a Somali family that is moving into a new home built by Habitat for Humanity on Louisville’s West Side. Omar knows what he is talking about, He escaped the fear and chaos of civil war in Somalia, where freedom was just an empty word. He emigrated to the United States, met his wife Ubah, also a Somali immigrant, and started a family.
Their home became a reality when a partnership between  Habitat and the Governor’s Scholars Program brought together 25 Habitat volunteers and 360 upcoming high school seniors selected by the GSP for a five-week residency program in Louisville.
    The GSP provided money to fund the build, which celebrated the 30 anniversary of the program and became a major public service project for the scholars. Habitat agreed to build the house in four weeks so the scholars could see the fruit of their labors. Normally, a Habitat house takes 12 weeks to build.
    It was worth the trouble. Building the house affected every scholar intellectually and emotionally.
Susan Bailey, a scholar from Breckinridge County High School, was awed “to see such an inspiring home” rise up in the city’s troubled Russell neighborhood. But the builders had to overcome some challenges.
Chuck Sgro, Habitat’s team leader at the worksite, said, “It was no surprise that most of the Scholars who came to help had not really been involved in any type of construction. What was a bit unnerving was the reality that there was a six-foot ladder limitation on the height that a scholar was permitted to work, and that they were limited to using non-power tools.”
But Sgro rose to the challenge, aided by a crew of 25 seasoned Habitat volunteers and plenty of enthusiast help from scholars. The house was dedicated on July 14. The four-week build time was a record for Habitat. And it was 377th Habitat home built in the Louisville metro area.
    Internationally, Habitat for Humanity has built over 500,000 homes in over 3,000 communities with volunteer labor and donations of money and materials.
In Louisville, over 5,000 men, women, and young people volunteer annually. The families who benefit from the program perform hundreds of hours of sweat equity and pay off their mortgages with interest-free loans. A family’s mortgage payments are used to fund more homes.
    President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have long been involved with Habitat for Humanity, but they have never served in any official capacity. According to Habitat leaders the Carters are just a couple of the most famous volunteers in the organization. But they have done a lot to promote the cause. Every year, the Carters organize large building crews who take trips to Africa and South America to build homes with Habitat for Humanity.
    Jimmy Carter once said, “Habitat is the best way to partner with God’s people in need without either demeaning them or exalting ourselves.”

Aris Cendeños with Rob Locke(r) and the Muse family.

    The partnership with the Governor’s Scholars Program in Louisville will no doubt result in another generation of leaders who are dedicated to Habitat’s cause.
 “I don’t think I have ever done anything that impacting before,” said Austin Hertzler, a scholar from Apollo High School in Owensboro.
    Team Leader Chuck Sgro had this to say about his crew of young scholars:
    “You continued to come. and the smiles on your faces and the love in your hearts lifted us past any limitations and made us want to work even harder to make this successful.”
    The payoff for the scholars, the thing that will keep them coming back, was the smile on Omar’s face as he accepted the keys to his family’s home and his symbol of freedom.