Local support is helping rebuild Haiti

Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara Countyis proud to support the relief and rebuilding efforts in Haiti through Habitat for Humanity International, (read more about these specific efforts and five-year plan). 

Since the devastating January 2010 earthquake, our Habitat affiliate in Santa Barbara has donated $7,500 to the relief efforts In Haiti. Additionally, local individuals have contributed over $3,000 directly to Haiti though our office.  Habitat affiliates are encouraged to donate 10% of their unrestricted revenue to home building efforts outside the U.S. In many cases, the cost of building a home abroad is much lower than in the US, so every donation goes a long way toward helping those in need.

We are proud that three of our local church partners - Ocean Hills CovenantChurch, Montecito Covenant Church, and Community Covenant Church - have also contributed financially to Habitat for Humanity International's rebuilding efforts in Haiti through Covenant World Relief. Covenant World Relief, the humanitarian aid ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church, donated $250,000 in 2011 to Habitat's disaster recovery and transitional building project in Haiti. "It's exciting for me as a local pastor whose church partners with Habitat to see our denominational relief agency also partner with Habitat globally in Haiti. This leveraging of humanitarian resources demonstrates great stewardship, trust and collaboration," says Don N. Johnson, senior pastor at Montecito Covenant Church.

Is your church or organization supporting the rebuilding effort in Haiti? We'd love to hear from you. 


Click here to learn more about the need in Haiti
Click here to learn more about HFH Haiti  

Habitat for Humanity’s recovery program in Haiti

Habitat for Humanity International put out this press release today on the progress being made in Haiti. We were encouraged to hear that 40,000 families so far have benefited from Habitat's work since the devastating earthquake two years ago. There remains much that needs to be done and Habitat is committed to helping thousands more families. Please read the full press release below.

Two years after the Haiti earthquake, Habitat for Humanity's recovery program has benefited more than 40,000 families through emergency, transitional and permanent housing solutions

Habitat's five-year recovery program on target to serve 50,000 families

ATLANTA (Jan. 6, 2012) - Two years after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, Habitat for Humanity's five-year disaster recovery program has helped more than 40,000 families or approximately 200,000 individuals in Port-au-Prince, Léogâne and Cabaret.

As part of its effort to provide 50,000 families with pathways to permanent housing, Habitat has distributed to-date more than 24,500 emergency shelter kits with partner organizations, constructed more than 4,000 transitional or upgradeable shelters, conducted 12,000 house damage assessments, repaired or rehabbed more than 350 houses, and constructed 150 permanent core houses as part of its permanent housing community in Léogâne.
"Habitat has a long-term view of its work in Haiti. We are committed to remaining in the country for years to come and reaching more families in desperate need of simple and decent permanent shelter," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. "While our earthquake recovery program has focused largely on temporary housing solutions, our primary focus over the next three years will shift to partnering with Haitian families to provide permanent housing."

The Léogâne development has the potential to house up to 500 families, or approximately 2,500 individuals. Volunteers constructed 100 core homes in one week as part of Habitat's 28th annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. An additional 50 Habitat homes were built in partnership with Haven, an Irish non-profit. Habitat will construct another 100 houses in 2012 with more to be constructed, pending additional funding.

"We are extremely grateful for the support Habitat has received from donors, supporters and volunteers, without whom our recovery efforts in Haiti would not be possible," said Mark Andrews, vice president of Haiti recovery for Habitat for Humanity International. "Our hope is to be able to help even more families through the continued generosity of people who share our commitment to Haiti."

Habitat is also helping to build long-term economic growth and sustainability by training and hiring Haitians through Habitat Haiti's main office and Habitat Resource Centers. Approximately 700 local job opportunities have been created by Habitat's recovery program and nearly 80 percent of its full-time central staff is Haitian. In addition, Habitat has trained approximately 4,450 individuals in construction techniques, financial literacy, damage assessments, disaster risk reduction and business development.

Additionally, since land tenure remains the biggest roadblock to reconstruction, Habitat is leading a coalition supporting land tenure reform. Land ownership was nebulous before the earthquake, and now it is even more of a challenge. Building permanent homes on land that is not properly deeded is not an option for Habitat.

To address this challenge, Habitat has created and fostered the Haiti Property Law Working Group, a diverse coalition of Haitian government officials, lawyers, academics and business leaders, along with representatives of the World Bank, USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank, the government of France, the Organization of American States, Architecture for Humanity, the Clinton Global Initiative, foundations, development partners and other nongovernmental organizations engaged in reconstruction and development. The goal of the Haiti Property Law Working Group is to support the government of Haiti in the recovery effort through the appropriate development of property for job creation, wealth creation, housing and other purposes by defining each step of the current processes applicable to land transactions and recommending improvements to be incorporated in future policies.
The earthquake damaged nearly 190,000 houses in Haiti, of which 105,000 were completely destroyed. Of the more than 2 million affected survivors, 550,000 are still displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration.

About Habitat for Humanity Haiti
Habitat for Humanity has been at work in Haiti for 27 years and has provided housing solutions through a variety of initiatives including new home construction, progressive building, home repairs and improvements. Habitat also builds capacity in construction skills, disaster risk reduction and financial literacy, and works in coordination with community and government agencies. For more information, visit Habitat.org/Haiti.

About Habitat for Humanity International
Habitat for Humanity International is a global nonprofit Christian housing organization that seeks to put God's love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope. Since 1976, Habitat has served more than 500,000 families by welcoming people of all races, religions and nationalities to construct, rehabilitate or preserve homes; by advocating for fair and just housing policies; and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. For more information, to donate or to volunteer, please visit www.habitat.org, or follow us at www.facebook.com/habitat or at www.twitter.com/habitat_org or join Habitat's blog community at www.habitat.org/blog.

Reflections on Haiti with David Chapman

Just the Way I Like It   - Opening Ceremonies

By David Chapman, Habitat for Humanity volunteer who spent a week in Leogane, Haiti with the Carter Work Project in November.

It’s Saturday afternoon and things are beginning to stir at our Atlanta meeting site. Many tables outside of the meeting hall are stacked with hard hats, tool bags filled with nail carriers, a tape measure, carpenter’s pencil, flashlight, gloves, first-aid kit, neck scarf, and three (3) light blue T-shirts with the Habitat logo, designating the wearer as “Volunteer”.

In the lobby, lots of incoming volunteers to talk to. I meet people from New Jersey, Minnesota, Oregon, Maine, N & S Carolina, Texas, Ireland, South Africa, Mexico, Belgium and so many other places. Many are Habitat staff from the local affiliates and there are national staff members from Atlanta. Many of these people are on their 3^rd-4th- 5th – 10^th Carter Habitat build. And even more volunteers are on their first Habitat adventure. There are many young people – college students, young professionals. There are many older volunteers – working and retired. There are singles and there are couples, there are one spouse or the other, a mother and her daughter, a father and his daughter, two sons and their father… they are all here to build.  Their brightly colored, diverse T-shirts from previous international and local builds proclaim their credentials, their history and their pride in being part of something bigger.

The doors open and we find tables to sit at and new friends to talk to… and we soon notice a tall man hovering nearby with a coil of wire from his shirt to an earphone and we soon learn that the Carters have arrived. Within minutes, Jimmy and Rosalynn are working the room, shaking ends and welcoming people. Rosalynn appears at our table and shakes hands, smiling and saying “Welcome, where are you from? Thank you coming”.

Light dim, and the introductions begin…. “Please meet our greatest fans and volunteers – President and Mrs. Carter”. The cheering is loud and long.

Our evening’s Host is Patrick Covington, Habitat for Humanity International staff, born in Africa of parents who fled Haiti and now a staff member with Habitat – “going home”.  He has a unique message:

“Tonight I want to give you a tool to use over the next week. There will times when things are frustrating, the heat, you can’t find a tool or the correct lumber, the bus shuttle is long and the ride bumpy, your team isn’t yet in sync… I want you to say to yourself “And that’s the way I like it. Let’s hear it now." The room roars “AND THAT’S THE WAY I / WE LIKE IT!!” and throughout the evening with descriptions of the challenges ahead, people yell out “And That’s The Way I Like It!”… and there is more cheering and laughter.

There is a safety training video made the week before on the build site. Among its key points, watch your use of ladders and scaffolding, be aware of your surroundings when you move and when carrying side walls, roof trusses and sheet metal, work with a buddy to keep an eye on each other… and HYDRATE. Drink lots and lots of water (and they mean it!).

There is specific attention drawn to security. “… You will see heavy security at the camps and the build site. You will travel escorted by police vehicles every morning and afternoon to, and from, the build site. It is necessary. Please know that your safety is our highest concern.”

Finally, there are two flights tomorrow. Your identification (strap-on) arm tags list your flight and your bus boarding time from hotel tomorrow morning starting at 5am. Check that you have your passport with you. Wear (one of) your blue T-shirts so you can be readily identified. You will receive further information.

“Good night and have a great build. This experience will change your life” …. and it does…..

Santa Barbara volunteer relives his first moments in Haiti

Local Santa Barbara volunteer David Chapman recently spent a week in Haiti as part of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Habitat for Humanity Work Project. It was an intense, moving, wonderful, hard-working week. Over the course of the next month we hope to share more stories and pictures with you as David shares his experiences in Haiti and the vast amount of rebuilding which still needs to take place. Below is a glimpse into David's first moments in Haiti, in his own words.

"The road from the airport, through the outskirts of Part-au-Prince to our camp provides a review of all the images of disaster that we have seen on television, in newspapers, and in the brochures and letters which come to us urging financial support for the recover and re-build effort. These sights, the temporary shelters surrounding the city of Port-au-Prince, are built on whatever kind of space was available – where buildings once stood, where agriculture might have flourished.... any kind of space that people could place scrapes of wood, tin, plastic sheeting and, sometimes after aid had arrived, new tarps or canvas and perhaps plywood. And it has remained so since the earliest response.... 

The road we traveled was lined, often on both sides, with such camps that went on, one after another, for as long as the eye can see. The materials occasionally changed from tin, to canvas, to plywood, all possible combinations of the same and repeated over and over and over. Many of the camps had parallel-running drainage channels with some water and much waste- human and otherwise. In places, we saw the distinct uniformity of a deliberated created tent village – tents identical in color, size and organization into neat rows. On occasion, we saw bright colored plywood structures (similar to those we would soon build) which marked the present of a NGO (Non-Government Organizations). 

Soon, I put the camera away... there were simply the same images, mile after mile after mile..........."

Additional reading: Carters dedicate 100 homes with joyous Haitian families

Habitat Santa Barbara Tithe: Changing Lives Near and Far

At Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County we talk often about the impact of each and every donation. Every donation helps Habitat for Humanity provide tangible, life-changing results. By providing safe, decent, affordable homes, Habitat opens a door for low-income families and helps end the cycle of poverty. 

The impact of every donation is more far reaching in its impact that you might think. Through Habitat for Humanity International’s tithing program, every year our local affiliate in Santa Barbara supports families in Mexico and Haiti - two locations greatly in need of decent and safe shelter. 

We're proud to say that since 2000 Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County has served over 26 international families!

Your donations make an impact in our own community and around the world! Thank you for allowing Habitat for Humanity to change the lives of many. 

Children served in Santa Barbara County!

And a family served in Haiti. Photo courtesy of HFHI

Would you like to help Habitat for Humanity change lives near and far? Please visit our online donation site.