Rodney

Habitat is made up of local organizations, all of which have their own vibe. As far as I can tell, they're all good people, but some of them reach out to the community for help, and others are a little more inward-looking.

For example, a lot of HforH chapters will train you and put you on a project; you'll do good and learnn something at the same time, which is totally satisfying. My local chapter, however, is is fairly small and is made up of a bunch of older men who are extremely competent with tools but not interested in teaching or organizing big teams of volunteers; they just wanna hammer and saw. So if you show up at the site to volunteer and you don't have many building skills, all they'll do is give you a broom and tell you to go sweep the site. So most people who aren't skilled, don't feel welcome. Their big fundraiser for the year is a golf tourney, if that gives you an idea of where they're at. I know a guy who's on the local HFH board, and keep nagging him about it -- _I_ would like to help, but I'm tool-illiterate, and I'm not going out there just to sweep -- and he chuckles and admits that they've got their heads up their asses, especially because a lot of their long-time volunteers are dying off. But nothing changes.

I certainly am not putting down Habitat, all the chapters do good work. But some chapters are more outward-looking than others. Still, if you've already got the skills you'll probably be welcome no matter what the chapter is like.