If you ever get a chance to lend a hand, or a hammer – do it.
Earlier this week, I joined Lt. Gov Matt Denn, my Cabinet and others to lend a hand at Habitat for Humanity.
Thousands of Delawareans can make the same choice.
They can donate some of their time to help build something that lasts – a home, or homes.
The Mill Stone effort where we worked this week is one of the largest that Habitat for Humanity has ever attempted in Delaware.
It’s a great mix of projects. Some homes are constructed on empty lots- other existing homes are being rehabbed or rebuilt.
Whether it’s the Mill Stone project or others, the time, talent and resources dedicated by these volunteers help renew local communities, one block at a time. It also helps renew something in each volunteer – a sense of connection to our community. And when you’re volunteering with friends or co-workers, it renews your sense of teamwork and purpose. Because, no matter how many meetings you’ve been through with somebody, how many shifts you’ve worked with them – you learn a lot more about them when they’re hammering nails inches from your face, and, when you’re lifting up together the walls to a new home.
Along the way, Habitat volunteers get to work side-by-side Habitat homeowners, who aren’t simply given the keys to a better life – they earn it. They put in hundreds of hours of sweat equity, before having the chance to buy the home. I’ve been to Habitat sites across the state, and each time I come away with the same message: the coming together you see at a Habitat site is evident in so many parts of our great state.
Whether it’s for our schools, or small businesses…whether it’s competing to bring in a new employer or fighting for opportunity for our neighbors – you see that shared sense of effort and purpose.
No matter how bad the weather or how hard the work, we pull together, to keep Delaware, moving forward.
