Volunteering for Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis
A Commitment to our Local Community
Secure Data is an innovative IT solutions provider with a strategic vision to invest in the St. Louis metropolitan area with the addition of high-skilled tech jobs, community activism and growing local business partnerships through our BUY LOCAL initiative.
“BUY LOCAL TECH is more than just a marketing campaign,” says Dana Steffey, Secure Data’s CEO / Founder. “We live and work in the St. Louis community. This is where we raise our families and this is where we form lasting, face-to-face relationships and friendships. We want our community to know that we are committed to this market, and we pledge to stay local, stay loyal and stay ethical.”
Building for a Better Tomorrow
Two weeks ago, Secure Data had an opportunity to volunteer and give back to the St. Louis community through Habitat for Humanity St. Louis. Organized by Cisco Partner Account Manager, Dan Weiss, the team got together and worked all day on constructing a home. (For more detail look at the building process, check out the “How we Build” section below!) The the consensus was an overwhelming sense of gratitude, fatigue and a steady dose of humility. No family should have to go without a shelter over their heads during this holiday season.
“Great team and partnership paying it forward to our wonderful St. Louis community in need. Proud of my team and big Thank You to Cisco!!” said Dana Steffey, Secure Data’s CEO / Founder.
About Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis
We All Rise Together
Did you know that half of renters in the St. Louis region are cost burdened? Too many people in our community spend a disproportionate amount of their income on rent, leaving little left over for child care, medical needs, and education. Statistics show that more than half of all St. Louis rental units are occupied by people who pay more than 30% of their income toward rent. Often they may live in overcrowded, unhealthy, often dangerous conditions. It’s no wonder that we receive over 5,000 calls a year from people interested in homeownership.
So Much More Than Homes
Safe, affordable housing is the bedrock of a family’s economic and social stability. Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis provides an opportunity for families living in substandard rental housing with the opportunity to help build and then purchase a home they can afford to maintain.
How We Build
Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis uses volunteer labor throughout the build process, from the design phase to dedication of the house. Using volunteer labor creates many opportunities and challenges, and is never an exact science. Since there are different volunteers with different skills and abilities from one day to the next, the tasks we ask our volunteers to tackle must be volunteer-friendly and well thought-out during the design process.
Once a house design is created, the details and the building processes are determined so that our weekday volunteers can be put into action in our warehouse pre-building walls and other components needed for the build.
After our foundations have been installed, our weekday volunteer crews complete all tasks necessary to have the house ready for the start of the build: they install the subfloors, snap chalk lines, pre-build gable ends, etc.
We typically start each build phase with a “Blitz,” a consecutive number of construction work days to get the house to a certain point – usually under roof. Blitzing the start of the build helps us to shorten the exposure of construction materials to the elements, therefore protecting us from loss of materials due to deterioration.
During the Blitz, volunteer leadership (house leaders, crew leaders, and site safety observers) come together with other volunteers to put up the home’s walls, install the building envelope-blueboard, wrap the house, place roof trusses, sheath roof, install doors and windows, and begin siding – all to get the house to the point that it is “under roof” and ready for the roofers to shingle.
Volunteers continue to work on the house following the build schedule to complete the interior finishes, painting, flooring, and landscaping.
Background
Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis believes in a world where everyone has a decent place to live. We’re a nonprofit organization that builds homes, communities and most of all, hope. We are dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and we work towards that goal with a comprehensive program in which hard-working local families invest their time into building and purchasing their own home. We operate on a strong foundation of fiscal responsibility, organizational efficiency, and progressive nonprofit management.
