Building with Habitat for 15 Years

Jan Detweiler has been volunteering with Habitat on a regular basis for 15 years! She is passionate about helping people and Habitat’s mission of building safe and affordable housing alongside future homeowners.

“I work full time, so Saturdays are my Habitat days,” she explains. “I just like the whole concept of what Habitat does. I enjoy being on site working with volunteers and staff and especially the homeowners.”

How did she start building with Habitat? One a build day with a group, and she “got hooked.”

Jan attributes three things to her enjoyment of building with Habitat: joy from helping others, learning how homes are built, and power tools.

“It’s fun getting on-site training and learning how homes are built. I enjoy the power tools like everybody else – the nail gun is fun,” she says.  “Habitat’s mission speaks to me and I’m very passionate about helping people.”

Jan, like many Regulars who are hooked on building with Habitat, enjoy who they work with as much as what they do.

“Being a regular, I see the same people every week on the job site. So you bond with the other regulars and the families that come out. We all enjoy working together.”

And as a woman working in construction, Jan says that she’s “accepted by the other regulars and just dives in with the rest of them.” She’s a recurring participant of the annual Women Build event and thoroughly enjoys it every time.

If you’re thinking about building with Habitat, Jan’s words of advice are: “Get involved, don’t be afraid of not having experience, because you’ll learn it all on site. It’s really fun and rewarding.”

And from her personal experience of 15 years, Jan says, “It’s a great experience. Helping others gets your focus off of yourself and the feeling you get is so rewarding. Plus, there are power tools.”