Building Community Blog

CenterPoint Energy volunteers are once again helping build a Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity home this summer. This time in Crystal. This being the company's 21st straight year with Habitat, the volunteers work like a well-oiled machine.

This past winter, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center (MZMC) volunteers began an effort to help build homes with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. 18 MZMC volunteers installed flooring and insulation and helped to paint the interior of a Habitat home located on St. Paul’s east side along Case Avenue. They started each day with 30 minutes of silent meditation, then participated in a guided conversation with TC Habitat staff on critical issues related to affordable housing. And when construction was finally completed, Minnesota Zen Meditation’s Center associate guiding teacher Ted O’Toole was on hand to offer the closing prayer during the home’s dedication celebration on Saturday, April 27^th.

Volunteering with Habitat for 22 years requires dedication and commitment. You become a familiar face to many of our site staff and fellow volunteers, and play an important role in transforming the lives of countless Habitat families. You gather new friends, experiences and skills along the way. These and many other things come to mind when describing one of Habitat’s longest running volunteers: Kenny. 

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Program (MFPP) is happy to be participating in the Making Home Affordable Outreach and Intake Project. A new effort by national, state, and local organizations, the project aims to help as many homeowners as possible by the end of the year.

To a volunteer, the benefits of joining a regular construction crew are that it’s fun, there’s
great camaraderie and you get the chance to help others. For TCHFH the advantages are stability and reliability on the build site. Our regular crews are often the deciding factor in whether partner families move in on time. These crews are made up of big-hearted people willing to make an extra commitment to Habitat’s mission.  

3M CARES is a special program comprised of retirees from 3M, who exemplify their company’s ideals. The 3M CARES partnership with TCHFH began in 1996 and contributes more than $200,000 annually. The group also schedules volunteers for a 10-week long workcamp each summer. Additionally, a 3M retiree crew volunteers every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the year.

The Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity ReStore in New Brighton recently got a big refresh makeover and now tons of new products are coming in for savvy shoppers.

 Edina based Innovative Energy Solutions is helping two Habitat homeowners with energy saving products this year. The company donated insulation to a Habitat home currently under construction in Anoka. In addition, Innovative Energy Solutions donated LED light bulbs to Twin Cities Habitat’s first ever net-zero energy home located in North Minneapolis. “We are very lucky to have generous in-kind donors like Innovative Energy Solutions,” Habitat staff member Mark Turbak said. “Our in-kind donations ensure our home construction costs remain low so more well-deserving families can purchase a Habitat home each year.”

On Saturday, March 2^nd, a group of 25 volunteers came together to build for the day in celebration of Chris Maccarone’s 50^th birthday. In addition to recruiting their friends and family members to build alongside them at a multi-unit home in Woodbury, the Maccarones also raised over $1,000 to support Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity in making sure all Twin Cities families have a safe, affordable place to call home.

A subsidized studio apartment is not the ideal place to raise three active kids. Thankfully Mohammad Zafar and his wife Sarah O’Keefe will soon have all the space they need in the Habitat home they're buying in Oakdale later this month. The family, their loved ones and volunteers from Twin Cities Habitat gathered for an emotional Home Dedication on May 4. The kids tested out the playground equipment in the backyard and enjoyed showing off their new rooms to their cousins.

Mohammad moved from Pakistan as a boy and grew up in Eagan. He served in the Marines and now works at Metro State University helping other Veterans get financial aid for college. Over the past year, Twin Cities Habitat has been reaching out to bring our programs and services to more Veterans and their families.

At the Dedication, Mohammad said as a Muslim it takes a long time to save for a home because his faith teaches that it is wrong to benefit from, or pay, interest. He said the family had a 10- to 15-year plan to buy a home, but once Sarah found out about Habitat's unique 0% interest mortgage they realized they could do it. Helping matters was Mohammad's stable post-Marines job.   

Sarah cried tears of joy when she heard they’d been selected into Habitat's Homeownership Program and she cried them again at the Dedication as she thanked everyone who helped make it a reality. She said she really feels ready to be a homeowner because of all the financial training and home maintenance classes she went through as part of Habitat's Homeownership Program. 

When Mohammad and Sarah close on their home, their mortgage payments will go to Twin Cities Habitat so volunteers can build even more homes.

And for the icing on the cake, Amaiya, the family’s older daughter, will celebrate her 13^th birthday the day after they sign the final paperwork. Now, she and her younger brother and sister will have space to study, play and have friends over.

The mortgage payments from Habitat homeowners do not cover all of the costs associated with Habitat volunteers building safe, decent affordable homes. Please make a gift to support the mission of eliminating poverty housing in the Twin Cities.

Fridley based Mr. Rooter Plumbing generously provided plumbing materials and services to one A Brush With Kindness partner family this spring. Rachel, a single mother of two, has worked tirelessly to make her home a safe and comfortable place for her and her children to live. When A Brush With Kindness staff arrived at the home, they discovered Rachel’s severe needs. The home had no running water which forced Rachel and her two children to live with a neighbor until home repairs were made.