Habitat for Humanity: Helping the Homeless :: Volunteer

Habitat for Humanity: Helping the Homeless Homelessness is not something that I could ever imagine completely. I, like everyone else, have a simple idea of what it would be like to be homeless. There is so much more to being homeless than most believe. My exposure to Habitat for Humanity is showing me some about the idea of living in a lower income family. This exposure is an experience that all high school and college students should have. One reason for my ignorance on homelessness is my modest exposure to homeless people. I have really never had close contact to homeless or have never done much service work for the homeless. Many people in my family do work with homeless and low-income families. I have heard their stories and I have a little knowledge from what my family has told me. If people, including myself, did more to get involved, we would have more knowledge about the homeless and other poverty-stricken families. I finally got exposure to the low-income families with my grandfather. My grandfather is the person who got me involved in the Habitat work. He is a retired construction teacher and he has taught me many carpentry and handyman skills. I have done a Blitz Build before and I enjoyed it very much. I love doing that type of work and it is even more fun when I get to help out a family with my skills. At Clemson I got to practice these skills once again when my English class helped work on a Habitat house. Now we are assisting the actual Habitat organization by making a promotional brochure. I think that all students should get involved with an organization such as Habitat for Humanity. Doing this will bring them to a closer understanding of what it is like to live in a low income or even homeless family. It is an interesting experience to get involved with the families in society that need help.