This year marks the 26th anniversary of Door County Habitat for Humanity.  Since 1993, forty-one homes have been built on the peninsula.  To date, 137 people, including 92 children, have been blessed with safe, secure and decent housing because of Habitat.  One of the core concepts of Habitat is to offer the partner family a hand up …not a hand out.

Prospective homeowners are selected on the basis of need;  the ability to pay a mortgage; and willingness to put in several hundred hours of labor on their own home.

“Sweat equity” is Habitat’s name for the labor that future homeowners invest in the building of their own home.  Habitat families are partners in the process that leads to home ownership.  Time spent doing sweat equity instills in the homeowner a sense of pride and ownership, teaching the basic building and house-maintenance skills.  As they work beside volunteers who help build their house, they gain dignity, self-worth, and a sense of community.  The ultimate goal of sweat equity is for a Habitat partner family to feel that Habitat volunteers built this house with them, not for them.

We make every effort to build homes in the community where the family is currently residing, preferring to keep children in the same school system they are attending at the time of application.  The following quote shows the positive impact on a family of owning their own home.

“This home is more than a house,  It is a home built with love and hope and dreams, because of Habitat for Humanity.  You’ve given our family hope – no matter how bad things get or have been in the past.  God has blessed our family with the caring supportive, concerned people at Habitat.”

– Door county Habitat for Humanity Partner Family