If I had a Hammer

If I had a hammer . . .

I am in New Orleans this week with my sweet husband, Dave, attending the National Association of Realtors annual conference. We came a day early to work with a group of realtor volunteers, 150 strong, to work on four Habitat Houses. We built subflooring on the house we were assigned to. My job that morning was hammering 2 X 10 boards together – a row of five nails every sixteen inches. A job that was much harder than it sounds. Besides seeing that I actually can hammer five nails in a row, the real highlight of the day was meeting the young mom who would move into this house in February with her five year old son. She has completed 150 of the required 250 volunteer hours with Habitat.

She reminded me a lot of the impressive FaithWorks students I spend my days with. Each wants a better life, a better home, for themselves and for their family. Each is required to invest a great number of their personal hours in “sweat equity”. A time of working, learning, using the tools they have been blessed with. A new home built by Habitat for Humanity requires much personal effort by the new home owner. The same is true of the new beginnings and careers FaithWorks students long for. Each student must invest long hours in the classroom, in counseling, in the computer lab, in internships; using the skills, talents and blessings they have been given. A Habitat home is not free. Nor is FaithWorks.

Internship season begins this week for the current FaithWorks class and we are looking forward to our talented students – – – in medical offices, in elementary classrooms, in nail boutiques and caring for abandoned animals. The sixty hours spent in these learning environments are one more important part of their working into their new live and new career. It is a very important and exciting season as we move forward.

We are thankful for the many donors, volunteers, mentors and lunch providers that help make FaithWorks possible just as Habitat is thankful for so many who contribute to the building of each new home. The eight business, school and nonprofit internship providers this semester are vital in building the foundations for new careers, new hopes and new futures for each of our students.

We couldn’t do this without YOU.

We also are so thankful for the perseverance, the dedication, the commitment, and yes, the “sweat” each of our wonderful students invest in the new lives.