(From the Fall 2024 print newsletter)
Each year, El Paso County church congregations join Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity for the Apostles Build, constructing a home in partnership with a local workforce family. This fall, we’re putting the final touches on the 2024 Apostles Build, where Bernadette—a childcare worker originally from Fountain—will live with her three children. (See the story about her new roof.) The home dedication is scheduled for Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m.—the day after one of her children’s birthdays!
“My experience as the Apostles Build future homeowner has been consistently outstanding, thanks to the extensive support surrounding me because of Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity,” says Bernadette. “My interactions with different church congregations on my future home have been overwhelmingly positive, characterized by friendly demeanor. Their willingness to devote time and effort to helping others is truly admirable.”
One of those churches is First Lutheran. Cheryl Mahon, coordinator of lay ministries, became involved with Pikes Peak Habitat when she worked for Thrivent and organized Diva Parties for women on the construction site. She has continued her involvement, now organizing volunteer groups from the church.
“What’s really nice is that when we don’t have 10 people to fill the spot, other churches fill the holes,” she says. “Then we meet people from other churches!”
Working alongside other congregations is part of the appeal for Peak City Church, too, says Chelsea Walker, discipleship director. “That was cool to see how [other churches] do things and learn from them, but also just build relationships and connections for the future,” she explains.
“The Apostles Build was something that I wasn’t familiar with before I started working with Pikes Peak Habitat,” she adds. “I love that it is building a home for someone in the community. That was just very aligned with our mission of meeting people where they’re at and then finding a way to functionally help them.”
First Lutheran volunteer Al Hassebrock says spending time on the construction site has helped him not just meet people from other churches but also get acquainted with folks from his own congregation.
“Because the church is so large, you meet people of the church that you wouldn’t meet otherwise,” he says.
Mahon agrees that volunteering can be a great way to get to know others. “Depending upon what activity you’re doing and if you’re doing something alongside someone else, you can kind of share stories and backgrounds.”
She notes that having a professional construction crew on-site means even people who have never worked in construction before are still welcome and can learn new skills.
“I think once people are on-site and they see what it’s all about—I think people are a little afraid, especially women, of ‘I don’t know how to build a house; what could I possibly do to help?’—and they do teach you,” Mahon says. “What was fun for me, over the years, was that I learned to do things I would never have thought I would ever do! I hung doors. I know how to run a chop saw.”
Hassebrock agrees. “You get a better sense of what it takes to make a house,” he notes. “It’s good exercise, too!”
And Walker says she appreciates how well-organized Pikes Peak Habitat’s construction site is.
“I loved…the ease and flexibility of opportunities, and knowing that the groups that I had set up were going to be multigenerational, and they had multiple ability levels, and I knew that you guys could support all of those different ones,” she says. “They knew exactly where to go. They knew what to expect, which I think is huge in volunteer coordination, and it means a lot to me as a coordinator because I don’t want to just send people in blind somewhere.”
And volunteers often have the chance to work alongside future homeowners.
“I have witnessed the willingness of the congregations to partner together and their commitment to helping build affordable housing,” says Bernadette. “The dedication of each congregation to helping others is sensational. Their individual communities collectively deepen the Pikes Peak Habitat community, creating a memorable experience.”
So far, nine El Paso County churches have sent volunteer groups to work on the 2024 Apostles Build, many of them on multiple dates. Spots are still available—and Walker encourages other congregations to become involved.
“It’s our commandment to go out and serve and help people,” she says. “We have seen volunteer growth and depth by getting outside the four walls, and seeing that God is not just here. He’s everywhere. So I would say, just take the next step, and it doesn’t have to be you’re sending 200 people. It can be three people or whatever it is, and y’all take care of it.”
And at the end of the process, church groups have the chance to celebrate with the homeowner at the dedication ceremony—so the volunteers can see the result of their labor on workforce families who have struggled with the high cost of living.
“With them doing their sweat equity and with the donations and how it’s funded, it’s a mortgage they can afford to pay. They couldn’t get an apartment that size for that price,” notes Mahon. “To see when they get their keys and they cut their ribbon, that’s just goose bumps! You wish you could do it for a lot more, a lot faster.”
