Volunteer
Habitat Global Village: Building Homes and Hope Around the World
After a bit of a hiatus, Habitat Global Village is back, and we’re excited to announce that Habitat Metro Denver is organizing a volunteer trip
22 Aug, 2024
When Hannah and Tillman arrived in Denver for the first time last September, they immediately compared their new surroundings to each of their home communities in Germany.
“Nothing compares to the Rocky Mountains. We don’t have mountains like that back home,” Tillman said.
“But we felt comfortable quickly, because our team at Habitat made us feel welcome right away,” added Hannah.
The two have just completed a year of service with Habitat Metro Denver as part of the Internationale Jugendgemeinschaftsdienste (or IJGD for short), a volunteer organization that connects German youth to nonprofit organizations across the world to conduct a year of service. Volunteers in the program experience a year abroad while giving back to the communities where they live and gaining leadership skills and career development experience.
Hannah and Tillman spent their year working in our Denver ReStore as part of the staff team. Habitat Metro Denver hosted Hannah and Tillman as our first volunteers with the IJGD program this year, and we will be continuing with more IJGD volunteers in 2025.
Neither Hannah or Tillman knew about Habitat for Humanity, or much about Colorado, when choosing a location to spend their year of service. But they were drawn to the opportunity to work with their hands, and live in an urban environment in the U.S.
At the Denver ReStore, they both helped in customer service, loading and unloading donations from the dock, and keeping the store organized and appealing to customers. The staff at the Denver ReStore quickly came to rely on their steady and enthusiastic help.
“Our team had so much fun getting to know Hannah and Tillman, and their hard work was a huge support to our team. We’ll miss them a ton after their year is over,” said Carson Nickels, manager of the Denver ReStore.
“We have a great team and it’s a very supportive group of people,” Hannah. “There were always people to talk to if you needed it. And coworkers gave us a ride to work,because it takes over an hour to get here on public transit.”
While working with Habitat, Hannah and Tillman also learned about the organization’s overall mission, and came to appreciate what Habitat does in the community to support affordable homeownership.
“I didn’t know much about construction, but I liked volunteering on the construction site and learning about building styles here in the U.S., which are different from Germany,” said Tillman. “For example, I didn’t know that we build walls at our production warehouse and then transport them out to sites to be more efficient.”
Habitat Metro Denver is grateful for the support of all the full time volunteers who spend a year of service with us – including the IJGD volunteers and AmeriCorps. These volunteers become a crucial part of our teams, helping us manage our programs and run our ReStores efficiently to serve the community.
The IJGD volunteers and AmeriCorps have their housing covered by Habitat Metro Denver during their year of service, and this year’s group of volunteers really bonded by living together. The IJGD volunteers and AmeriCorps took advantage of their time in the western states, exploring the National Parks in Colorado and Utah and getting out for camping and hiking trips on the weekends.
“It was nice to have people who are our age and who have lived in the US to get to know the US culture a little better,” said Tillman.
“We got really lucky with the group we do have. It seems like we’re exceptionally close with the Americorps and we did a lot of things together. Our connection was very instant and we quickly decided, ‘Let’s start doing stuff together,’” added Hannah.
After their year with Habitat concludes this month, Hannah and Tillman will both start university in Germany in the fall.
“It’s been a great time,” said Hannah. “I would recommend the program to anyone wanting a new experience and great people.”
“Many of our counterparts from IJGD chose to work in childcare or service organizations, but I wanted to do something active,” said Hannah.
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