Choices

I had a meeting with one of our Habitat for Humanity Partner Families today. The purpose of the meeting was so that the future home owner could make choices about her new home that we will be building soon. Our Partner Families do not get to choose too many things. Most of the decisions are made for the family because we focus on building simple, decent, affordable homes. We do not have any frills or extravagant extras. Our families could not afford them if we added them and adding these items would violate our mission.
We allow families to choose what color their siding is. They also get to choose the color of their carpeting and roof shingles. In the TriState Habitat for Humanity affiliate, we also allow families to add a few amenities that we list for them. These things include ceiling fans, an upgrade to a second half bathroom, and landscaping. They choose from a list of items. Each item costs a specific amount and we allow families to choose items that add up to no more than $1000.00. Again, we focus on simple, decent, affordable homes - no frills.
It was exciting for me to be a part of this meeting. Most of our Partner Families have never been able to make choices like this about their homes before. They have almost always been renters and have had very little freedom to paint or remodel their homes. So, today was a big day for this family. We empowered them by allowing them to make choices. We encouraged them to remember that they would have to live with some of these choices for a very long time. The family certainly took these choices very seriously and after about an hour and a half of pouring over the choices, we were done and ready to move on to the next step in the process. We are still about a month away from actually starting construction on this house. There are still many hoops to jump through; however, today was a bit step forward.
I felt myself feeling blessed and honored after this meeting. It was fun for me to work with this family as they made their choices. It felt like things are progressing along very well. While there will most certainly be future delays in the process and challenges to face, I know that we are on our way to making a huge difference in the life of this family. We are one step closer to eliminating poverty housing from the face of the earth. For me, this is life-giving and life-sustaining ministry.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!