Habitat World Online


	Habitat for Humanity founder and president Millard Fuller raised enthusiasm and awareness of Habitat's mission in Durban, South Africa, in June 2002.

A Helping Hand
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
-Psalm 46:1

When a person is in trouble, help is needed. And, as the scripture above promises, God is a faithful refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

God's work, God's help in this world, is often delivered by people. I have always believed that Habitat for Humanity is God's work. I feel called to this venture of building houses as a way to deliver help to families in need. Every house we build is a "sermon" of God's love.

A Habitat house, built and sold at no profit and no interest, does not solve every problem for a low-income family, but it gives them a base--a foundation--on which to stand and grow. Other needs can be more easily met and dealt with if a family has a solid, secure house, with payments low enough to allow money left over for pressing needs such as school fees, medical expenses, clothing and food.

What a joy it is to realize that more than 125,000 families have been helped to have a better life by owning and living in an interest-free Habitat for Humanity house. And new Habitat houses are being built around the world at the rate of one every 26 minutes. That's 20,000 more houses a year. Generous people all across the land make this possible. Thank you for being God's helpers for people in need of a decent place to live.

One such family is that of a single mother in Indianapolis, Ind. Until recently, she was paying 80 percent of her income to rent an unsanitary, unsafe house for herself and two teenage children. Now, she lives in a Habitat house that is good and decent by any standard, and her monthly payments are less than half of what she was paying for the old house. Also, her life is now free of the stress caused by living in the substandard house.

People who support the work of Habitat for Humanity are the incarnation of strength and refuge--a very present help to families like the one in Indiana.

Many thanks and may God bless you. Have a joyous and happy holiday season.

--Millard Fuller