Meet Sis

You can find Sis almost anywhere you look in the Habitat family.

She donates, gets her workplace to donate through in corporate giving, volunteers locally at our construction sites and Playhouse workshops, volunteers abroad on Habitat's Global Village trips, and shops at and donates to our ReStores. When Habitat needs a helping hand, Sis is sure to reach one (or both!) out.

Why does Sis give so much to Habitat? For Sis, it all boils down to her belief that “We are created equal in the eyes of God. Everyone should have the opportunity to better themselves and their living situation.”

Sis first stepped on to a Habitat construction site when her company sponsored a Team Build Day. Like many, Sis knew Habitat for Humanity as a household name, but not much beyond that. She signed up for this first day in part out of nostalgia; she’d previously worked in residential construction, so she was excited for a return to a familiar environment. “I was not disappointed,” Sis remembers. “I loved it, and I was hooked immediately.”

Before long, Sis decided to go global with her passion for Habitat. To date, she’s built homes on Global Village trips in El Salvador, Mozambique, Cambodia, Kauai, Poland, and Malawi. “When I was little,” Sis explains, “I loved looking at the faraway places that I saw in National Geographic magazine. I always dreamed of seeing these places.” The Mozambique build holds a special place in her heart, particularly because the trip-ending safari fulfilled a lifelong desire to see animals in far-flung locales. And although the volunteers and the local homeowners didn’t share a common language, Sis points out that “love and kindness have their own language that has no barriers (and pointing and head movements for yes and no go a long way!).” 

But for Sis, her most regular touchstone with Habitat is her monthly volunteering on the Women’s Crew. She calls it “a great group of women,” and though she enjoys the fact that the Crew does “lots of talking, laughing, and general catching up with each other,” she also appreciates the fact that there are no distinctions on a Habitat construction site based on gender. She’s also mindful of the fact that her volunteerism helps empower others, particularly other women “who can be empowered by having their own home and knowing how to maintain it.”

Sis loves being a part of the Habitat community in no small part because of the equity it fosters: “Our Habitat-built communities,” she says, “are deeply enriched by a diverse tapestry.” It all comes back to her belief in our equality, and the idea that “we are better together.”

If you’re interested in engaging further with the many aspects of Habitat’s work, Sis is behind you all the way. “Whether you donate your time or money,” she says, “either one is going to further the work… to build homes and bring hope to so many people around the world.”