Especially at this time of year, home and hearth provide much comfort and joy. Not everyone is thus blessed, of course, but there are "angels" in Hawaii’s community who work to fill the needs of home. Three of them — Genie Brown, Jerri Chong and Connie Mitchell — share what they do, and why.
Two bedrooms for a family of seven on the first floor, another two bedrooms upstairs for uncle’s family of six, and grandma in a makeshift bedroom on the lanai. The rest of the family will be arriving in time for Christmas dinner, which will fill up this small rental quickly. Perhaps the epitome of an overcrowded and multigenerational home in Hawaii, yet the kids are looking forward to spending the holiday with their many cousins.
A single mom and her child paying rent to sleep on a friend’s sofa. Her friend is hosting Christmas Day for family and friends, and so this mom’s living space will need to revert from temporary bedroom to the living room for the day. No place of their own, yet they are so grateful for shelter and good friends to share the day with.
A retired couple living on their land, in a tarp-covered area with a generator to power the lights on their small Christmas tree. Their home is no longer livable because of termites, mold and severe water damage so they cannot live inside the home, but they are thankful to live in a beautiful valley enjoying Christmas in the full glory of nature.
Such are the living arrangements of many of the families that come to Honolulu Habitat for Humanity with the dream of owning their own home. Some wish to have a home big enough for their family, where there’s room for each person to sleep in a bed. Others want to have a place they can call their own, where they can raise their family. And almost without exception, the families that seek our help need a safe and decent place to live.
Safe and decent housing — a very basic need of living in our society, yet many among us aren’t able to meet that need.
Honolulu Habitat for Humanity is a faith-based organization that believes in finding those low-income families in need, and offering them a "hand up, not a hand out."
We offer a partnership that works hard to make their dream of homeownership a reality. Together with hundreds of volunteers who donate the gift of time and labor, we build a simple, decent home that they can afford to buy. Our partner families pay for the actual cost of building their home, without any interest or profit.
Because our homes are built primarily with donated labor, the cost of a Habitat home is very affordable. For our organization, this is the greatest gift that we can provide to hard-working families.
We asked the families that are waiting their turn to build a home what it means to them to think about having a new Habitat home by the next holiday season. The responses are overwhelmingly "it will be a blessing" — to have a safe place to live, to have their whole family under the same roof, to have each of their children in their own bed, to have independence and pride in the future they’re building. Not one of them complains about what they have or don’t have, yet the excitement and hope of what their future holds is in their every word.
During this holiday season, when you hear familiar sayings, such as "Home is where the heart is," "Home is what you make it," and "Home for the holidays," please take a moment to think about our Habitat partner families and add "Home is what they want and need."
Mele Kalikimaka from Honolulu Habitat for Humanity and may all your Christmas prayers be heard.
Genie Brown is executive director of Honolulu Habitat for Humanity.
