Home is the key to community

Dear Habitat Friends,

Our team’s achievements over the last 28 years confirm how critical housing is to families and communities. What Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity really builds is strength, stability, and self-reliance. Our focus on home provides people a place and a voice in our community. When individuals believe that they belong, they engage, interact, and invest. We all grow stronger. Home is the key to community. This year, six families will build and purchase safe, affordable homes, and another thirty households will make critical repairs and/or accessibility modifications through our Helping Hands program. Help us cultivate home and community in the coming year by sending your year-end donation today.

Living on a fixed income makes even modest home repairs difficult to afford, and we were reminded of this when we met Karen and Marshall earlier this year. The couple was at risk of losing their homeowner’s insurance because of a faulty roof and encroaching tree, yet were unable to pay for the badly needed repairs. Your support for our Helping Hands program enabled us to lend them a hand by repairing the roof, replacing the shingles, installing a proper venting system, and removing the tree. These repairs ensure the two will continue to live safely in their home yet aren’t financially burdened by the repair. Expressing her gratitude for the Habitat community of supporters, Karen says, “We’re proud. Habitat for Humanity is nothing short of God’s work. The people are so kind and nonjudgmental, just like family. ”

Future Habitat homeowners Chubaka and Mwangaza have overcome formidable challenges. The couple is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country destabilized by violence. The two escaped the turmoil by foot, arriving at a Ugandan refugee camp after a month of walking. They spent 11 years in the refugee camp's
crowded confines before their application for resettlement in the United States was accepted. Chubaka and Mwangaza see their arrival in the US as an incredible opportunity for their growing family, but, without permanent housing, they have had to move frequently. Four of their children attend grades K-12, and constant relocations undermine the teacher and peer

bonds that shape developmental growth. The new Habitat home they are building will close a 15-year chapter of uncertainty, allowing an incredible family to put down roots in our community and build lasting, productive relationships. They belong.
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Heartwarming stories like these are why your gift is so important. Please make a year-end donation to Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity today because home is the key to our community. Together we can help more families like Karen and Marshall and Chubaka and Mwangaza in 2020. Together we can work together to build a community of strength, stability, and self-reliance through shelter.

Gratefully,

Jesse Bulman, AIA, Neumann Monson Architects
Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity Board President