DAVENPORT, Iowa — Correction: The volunteers featured in this Pay It Forward segment work with Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities. They do not work for Habitat Restore as stated in the TV segment, which is the organization's retail store and project funding source.
Habitat for Humanity relies on volunteers to help out the community. In 2021, 3,160 volunteers donated over 22,400 hours to all programs in the organization! One program helps those in need of home repairs and even building homes around the area.
Denis Moser bought her home in Davenport that needed a lot of work.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it all by myself. I mean… this was a fixer-upper that I bought," said Moser.
She needed some help and contacted Habitat for Humanity through the home repair program to see if she could get some help on some much-needed repairs to her home. They responded and volunteers got to work.
Rich Craddick, Gary Freeman and Jean-Michel Serra are a few of those volunteers to help Moser. They helped remodel her bathroom, put in new ceilings and fix a lot of electrical work. “Denise’s project is probably one of the larger ones we’ve undertaken. Uhm, our estimate is we put 320 man hours into the project between professional volunteers and staff time," Craddick said.
These guys have a lot of volunteering on their backs and do so much for the community. “From the repair and building project we’ve got five new homes in process. We’ve completed five during this year already. We’ve completed 16 repair projects and have 6 underway right now and we’ve done 15 ramps this year" Craddick said.
Craddick and Freeman have been with Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities since its merger with Rebuilding Together in 2019 and Serra has been volunteering for about a year and half. They like to volunteer because they are good with their hands and repairs, but giving back to the community is the main motivator. “To put it this way I’m an immigrant to this country and I appreciate what it has done for me and I always felt I needed to give back,” said Serra.
Most of all, seeing how they are able to change the lives for people and make homes a little safer to live in is more than they can ask in return. “The one lady that I remember the most… came on her new front porch with a handicap ramp attached and said this is the first time I’ve been out of the house in two years and I couldn’t imagine that,” said Freeman.
If you would like to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, they are always looking for help! You can get more information and apply on their website here.
Do you know someone that goes above and beyond for his or her community? News 8 and Ascentra Credit Union would like to help you Pay it Forward to them. Click here to nominate someone you know.
See previous Pay It Forward award winners: