Greater Plainfield Habitat for Humanity

Plainfield Habitat for Humanity seeks new volunteers

The Executive Board of the Greater Plainfield Habitat for Humanity will host Team Nite at their Plainfield headquarters on Tuesday, November 15, from 7:00 – 8:30 PM, located at 2 Randolph Road, Plainfield - corner of Park Avenue, across from Muhlenberg Hospital.  Interested new volunteers are invited “to lend a hand, not a hammer” by attending the evening to learn more about how to get involved. 

Outside of the weekly construction worksite, this local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity depends heavily on the generous efforts of volunteers. 

“You don’t have to swing a hammer to be an essential part of our work!,” comments Rev. Jeremy Montgomery, Executive Director of Greater Plainfield Habitat for Humanity.  “By joining a Team, you can become a part of the work that brings our projects to life.”

During this evening, prospective volunteers and supporters will be able to learn more and to meet each of the Team leaders.  Here is a listing of their Teams:  Faith Relations, Family Selection, Family Support, Finance, Property Acquisition, PR / Marketing, and Resource Development, aka Fundraising. 

“Let’s face it – few of us like the word ‘committee’,” says Ian Piccione, President of the Board of Trustees.  “We like to think of them as ‘teams’.”  Regardless of what the groups are called, a number of volunteer teams conduct key operations vital to the smooth functioning of Habitat's important work.

Plainfield Habitat also relies on volunteers with special skills and professional expertise. For instance, our Board of Trustees is looking for new officers:  President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  Volunteer efforts can absolutely make a difference in a family's life. 

The open house will also serve as a kick-off event as the Greater Plainfield affiliate looks to build its capacity to build more home and to serve more families.  Plainfield Habitat will embark on its first multi-unit project with the purchase of a vacant piece of land on West Seventh Street in Plainfield.  A single-family home and two duplexes will be constructed, housing five families.  Currently an overgrown, vacant, and under-utilized property in a residential neighborhood, this eight-tenths of an acre property will be converted into a lovely condominium community. 

To best understand Habitat’s program of offering homeownership to qualified families, Plainfield Habitat offers working families a hand up, not a hand out.  Every partner family contributes 200 hours of “sweat equity” per adult in their home or other homes, financed with zero interest loans provided by Habitat.  By using volunteer labor and donations of money and material from the community, they sell the houses at the cost of construction with no profit. 

Since 1989, 33 homes have been built by Plainfield Habitat, all built 100% by volunteers using tax deductible donations of money and materials.  This past summer, Plainfield Habitat has broken ground on its 34th home in Plainfield on East Sixth Street. 

For more information, or if you have any questions about volunteering, please contact their office at (908) 769-5292 or home@gphabitat.org.  And definitely check out Plainfield Habitat’s impressive website:  gphabitat.org.