The holiday season brings much more than gifts wrapped in pretty red bows. It is the season of giving - and that goes further than just gifts. If you are looking for a way to give to the community this holiday, maybe you should consider giving sweat. Sweat from hard work building a house for a family in need, that is.
Habitat for Humanity Waco is changing our city one home, one project, one family, at a time. And their gift of giving is all year long.
Ashley Ledesma has been working towards the dream of home ownership for years. Being a single parent of four children all under the age of 13, she didn't know if her dream would be possible.
Then, Habitat for Humanity came into play, helping to empower Ashley so that her dream could be a reality. Habitat for Humanity 's goal is to create more homeowners in the city of Waco.
“We don’t believe in a handout, we believe in a hand up, and we believe that everybody can do something to make our community be a better place to live,” Brenda Shuttlesworth, the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Waco said.
In her approximately six years with the nonprofit, she said she has seen about 50 people become homeowners.
"There are 50 more people paying local taxes and having a positive impact on our economy,” she said.
Something you might not know about the local organization is that for every home built through the organization in Waco, they build another home in El Salvador and/or Nicaragua.
The non-profit has broke ground on 178 homes in Waco and a staggering 181 in South America.
If you are looking to volunteer, there is no expertise needed, simply a giving pair of hands is all that is required. They are always in need of volunteers that can give in any capacity.
Even volunteering to pass out food or drinks at the work sites is very helpful. If you are interested in giving your time to Habitat for Humanity this holiday season, click here.
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