INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — During a celebration of World Habitat Day the community wished a 15-member team well with a prayer at the Indian River Habitat for Humanity Home Center ReStore. The team will be joining more than 300 volunteers from Australia, Great Britain and Singapore, Korea, and Malaysia, who will be working in Nepal.
Volunteers are paying their own way for the trip and will be gone from Oct. 7-13.
“I’m very much looking forward to seeing that part of the world and experiencing their culture,” said team member Larry Gibson.
“I’m real experienced (at building) with bamboo and clay brick,” joked Gibson with fellow team member Earl Morgan.
They will be building 30 homes and will be staying in Kathmandu.
“It’s one of the countries in need of simple public housing,” said Samantha Baita, PR Coordinator for IRC Habitat for Humanity.
Teams have worked on Global Village builds in Romania, Haiti (a Jimmy Carter project), the Dominican Republic, and Argentina.
Countries Indian River Habitat for Humanity has supported through tithing also include Chile, Madagascar and Cote d’Ivoire. Since Indian River Habitat for Humanity began global tithing in 1991, it has generated more than $2.7 million and served 636 families internationally.
World Habitat Day is celebrated the first Monday in October.
“A simple, decent home leads to healthier families,” said Andy Bowler, President and CEO of IRC Habitat for Humanity. “We are making a difference one family at a time.”
Eight houses have been built so far with proceeds from the Home Center ReStore. Three hundred have been built in the community.
“The process was not only challenging but an experience that was a blessing,” said Caroline Anderson, a resident of a Habitat for Humanity House.