New AmeriCorps Members Join Habitat

This year, 14 men and women from AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA will spend their year with Habitat for Humanity Great San Francisco. Out of the more than 50,000 members working in AmeriCorps programs throughout the country this year, this group has pledged to help fulfill the local need for affordable housing.

Over the course of just 11 months, new AmeriCorps members transform into vital pillars supporting the organization's day-to-day work. Their mission is to:

• Collaborate with working families and volunteers to build low-income-affordable homes

• Strengthen communities by educating families, participating widely within the organization, and uniting volunteers in the fight against "poverty housing."

• Develop a sense of citizenship by serving and reflecting on their experience as team leaders and community organizers.

The force of commitment from AmeriCorps members allows Habitat for Humanity to rely on them to step into vital roles throughout the organization. They become team leaders, volunteer trainers, crew supervisors and community ambassadors.

Emily Andrews, from Annapolis, MD, works in the office as the Homeowner Selection Coordinator, getting to know the families that she will help select for the new Whitney Young development. "We AmeriCorps members get a chance to be immersed in the Habitat community more intensely than Habitat's other volunteers, though they are just as important to the work of the organization. We are learning to lead, not just to be involved," she said.

On the construction site, Alex McDouall directs daily crews of volunteers, working hard to make sure each volunteer feels productive and fulfilled at the end of the day."It is our responsibility to teach the volunteers," says Alex, a Long Beach, Calif., native.

But an AmeriCorps member's time is also about what they give of themselves.

"I know that what I'm doing helps people. People I meet, people I see on the job site, people who need our organization," said Josh Urich, Assistant Volunteer Coordinator at Habitat Greater San Francisco and a graduate of Northwestern University.

The experience shapes each AmeriCorps member differently. Robin Manning, an architecture major at U.C. Berkeley, describes his life before Habitat as "an empty box that needed to be filled up." Now, as Robin leads groups of volunteers on the site everyday, he said, "I'm learning how to piece together homes, one layer and nail at a time working with volunteers and managing their high quality work." He said he hopes to one day own a prefab business to further the mission of creating affordable housing for modest-income families.

Whether the AmeriCorps members work on the construction site or in the office, their year with Habitat for Humanity is sure to be memorable.

"What I've already learned and what I will learn about how motivated individuals can come together to make amazing things happen will be knowledge that I can take with me wherever I go," said Emily.

"I get the feeling that Habitat is going on the list of 'best things to happen to me.' "