Volunteers complete Habitat house for Chritmas

For immediate release: 8 December 2008

Volunteers complete Habitat house in time for Christmas

On Sunday December 14 Habitat for Humanity Greater Auckland will celebrate with Frances Taka and her children as they move in to their new home in Takanini, just in time for Christmas.

The house has been completed in just two months due to a large group of volunteers including a Habitat Global Village team from the United States, AMP, Dulux, Cerebos, Genesis and Noel Leeming. Air New Zealand also supplied a team of 17 staff for a week, including CEO Rob Fyfe, who worked alongside the Taka family to hammer in nails, fit insulation, lay bricks and paint walls under the direction of a building supervisor.

The AMP Foundation supported the house-build for the Taka family in Takanini, Auckland, and earlier in the year supported a build for a family in Porirua. AMP Foundation spokeswoman Jane Anderson says, “We are thrilled to be involved in an organisation like Habitat that advocates affordable housing for all. The AMP Foundation is committed to helping improve the lives of New Zealanders. There is no sense of better financial security than having a home to call your own.”

Habitat for Humanity offers “a hand up, not a hand out” to working families who are able to repay a loan and also contribute 500 hours of “sweat equity” to their home, which the Taka family, consisting of mum Frances, a teacher aide, and her four children, have done. Many of the families with housing needs helped by Habitat have steady jobs but the cost of living gives them no opportunity to save the amount for a mortgage deposit.

ENDS

About Habitat for Humanity:
Habitat for Humanity is a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with people of goodwill and families in need, to eliminate sub-standard housing by building, renovating and selling simple decent homes on an affordable basis. Habitat has built more than 321 homes in NZ since starting here in 1992.

Families who partner with Habitat agree to work for more than 500 hours on the construction of theirs, or another Habitat home. In return they are provided with a not for profit loan with affordable repayments. They are also provided with training in basic home maintenance and household financial management to help them on their way to home ownership
Habitat for Humanity was founded in the US in 1976 and it is now a global home-building mission comprised of more than 2,100 local affiliates and thousands of volunteers in over 100 countries. Since 1976 Habitat for Humanity has built more nearly 300,000 houses worldwide with a new house being completed approximately every 21 minutes.

If you’re interested in finding out more, or would like to volunteer on a build, please contact Habitat for Humanity New Zealand on 0800 44 22 48 or visit www.habitat.org.nz

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