by Margie Olivares
Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio has collaborated with local and national corporations to help combat the affordable housing crisis in the area. In many ways, companies have played a large role. Below are ways a company can get involved with Habitat.
Employee Team Builds/Volunteering (sponsored)
Companies in search of a team-building opportunity can join us either at our build site, our warehouse or one of our Habitat Home Center stores. At the site, teams help build the Habitat homes, alongside partner families and other volunteers. At the warehouse, teams assemble walls used to frame a Habitat house. When teams volunteer at the stores, they help load or offload cargo containers, assemble cabinets or price and stock merchandise.
Financial Support
Companies can partner with Habitat through corporate sponsorship. Sponsoring comes in the form of a full house sponsorship, a half house sponsorship or anywhere in between. When a company commits to a house sponsorship, it can also provide all or part of the volunteer labor needed to build the home.
In-kind product donations from a business or company
Many times after a project, companies, builders and contractors will donate materials that were leftover to Habitat. The donated materials go to our stores to sell at a reduced cost to the public. The proceeds from those items go back into the homebuilding program.
Home Centers also receive donations from big box stores. Those stores donate things like pallets of flooring, batteries and returned merchandise in good condition.
In-kind trade services
To keep the cost of building our homes affordable, Habitat relies on the help of professional tradespeople and their services. Habitat benefits from professionals such as electricians, HVAC professionals, plumbers and many others. The skills these workers offer at a discounted rate or at times pro-bono help with the building and completion of our homes.
In-kind donations to Home Centers
Credit Human, a local credit union donated the cabinets of six of their break rooms when moving into a new office building. Habitat Home Center staff was able to retrieve that furniture and then put it on the floor for the public to buy.
Get your company involved!
Donating time, skills, items or money — every bit helps. Help us build more affordable homes for low-income families in need.
To find out more about how you or your company can get involved with Habitat contact Stephanie C. Wiese, Vice President at 210-223-2503 ext. 157 or email StephanieWiese@HabitatSA.org. You can also visit HabitatSA.org/get-involved/to learn more.