The U.N. General Assembly mandates that Dec. 5 each year be acknowledged as International Volunteer Day (IVD). This is a chance for volunteers and the organizations for which they work to celebrate all they do to accomplish good in the world. It is a day to celebrate the shared missions of volunteers and organizations globally and to promote the work being done in communities worldwide. This day helps to advocate for volunteer recognition and encourages building volunteerism into programming for organizations around the world.

IVD 2018 has been given the theme “Volunteers Build Resilient Communities.” This means the day is focused on how volunteers already do build resilient communities as well as how we can utilize volunteer power to do even more. The volunteers being specifically recognized are those responding to, and helping their communities prepare for, natural disasters, economic stresses and political shocks.

This year’s IVD also highlights women volunteers, who represent over 50 percent of volunteers worldwide. These local, and often marginalized, volunteers are crucial to strengthening resiliency in their communities.

Volunteers are critical to the work we do at Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area. Our ReStore volunteers sort, price and sell donations that allow people to buy discounted housewares and other items, perpetuating sustainability and affordability in our community. Construction volunteers work alongside our homeowners to build and repair homes that increase pride and economic value in the neighborhoods in which we work. We have women build teams who return to our sites each year to take part in this community development work, and we could not do it without them.
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On this IVD, Habitat La Crosse is thrilled to celebrate the volunteers who help us make our community more economically and environmentally resilient through their support of all of our programs, helping us build more homes, communities and hope. 

All of us here at Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area gave extra thanks this past week. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving, we celebrated the sixth #GivingTuesday along with organizations and individuals around the world.

#GivingTuesday is a global giving movement. Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the day is an effort to remind us all of how many people are in need even while we shop. This year, Habitat La Crosse used the day to give thanks for all of the supporters who have helped make this year great for us. This support has been especially crucial during the launch of our All Hands In Capital Campaign.

Staff, volunteers and homeowners highlighted how donors, shoppers and volunteers keep our organization running. The community has shown incredible, heart-warming generosity during our matching challenge.
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Through the end of the year, any donation will be doubled through a generous matching challenge, up to $300,000. The giving being done in this community is overwhelming, and we are so thankful for it all. 

​This week, Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area launched its new Veterans Build program. On Thursday, Nov. 8, 20 veterans volunteered to help with construction on one of our Habitat homes. Another 20 volunteers will be working on the same home Saturday, Nov. 10. Spots for these build days signed up very quickly. Thanks so much to these veterans for continuing to serve our community! 

On Thursday, Oct. 25, Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area launched its All Hands In Capital Campaign. To do so, we hosted community members at Home Cookin’ for Habitat. The event was held at Colgan Air Services Hangar #4, and many local businesses sponsored the event and helped make it possible.

Pearl Street Brewery donated beer and their time to serve beverages to Habitat La Crosse’s guests. Cabin Coffee donated coffee, tea and lemonade. Subway, Pogy’s Catering, The DAMN TASTY, Fayze’s, Pappi’s Taqueria and Rudy’s all donated appetizers or desserts for guests to enjoy throughout the evening. It is safe to say the food was a big hit.
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Andy Hughes gave his time and talents to entertain guests as they arrived, playing a variety of songs for the first portion of the evening. ​

Throughout the evening, we had a ReStore lounge set up and available for people to sit, talk and see the kind of items we have available at the Habitat La Crosse ReStore. We even had an item purchased on the night! 
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During the program, guests were able to recognize June Kjome, one of Habitat La Crosse’s co-founders, who was in the audience. We are so grateful for the foundation she laid for the work Habitat is now doing and expanding for area families.

We could not have held this event, and could not be launching the All Hands In Capital Campaign, without the help of so many volunteers and donors throughout the process and beyond. Thank you to our steadfast supporters!

It was great to see so many people from the community join us in launching our campaign. Your continued support will help us reach more area families! To learn more, visit the Capital Campaign page today.  

Our Habitat for Humanity ReStore La Crosse Facebook contest this month was inspired by Halloween. We encouraged people to tag people in their lives who are excellent at designing and choosing Halloween costumes. There was no shortage of nominations for Halloween enthusiasts and creative costumers.

At the end of the contest, we drew for a winner. Our winner was Jackie Mahlum-Paul. When she came into the ReStore to collect her prize of Halloween decorations and a gift certificate, we asked her a little bit about herself.

Jackie enjoys making costumes for herself, her husband and her grandchildren. Her workplace holds a big costume contest every year, and she likes to create good entries for that. Some of her favorite costumes she’s designed for herself in the past are a Tiny Tim costume and the One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater. This year, she plans to go as a Bloody Mary.
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Congratulations, Jackie! We encourage everyone to keep an eye on our ReStore Facebook for upcoming opportunities for contests. 

​Monday, October 1 was World Habitat Day. Each year, the first Monday of October marks a re-dedication of Habitat for Humanity affiliates and partners around of the world to recognizing the basic right of everyone to adequate shelter. Here at Habitat La Crosse, we know that an important step to building a world in which everyone has a decent place to live is educating our community’s young people on housing issues. 

Because of this, we reached out to schools and one of our staff members was able to talk with two groups at the Coulee Montessori Adolescent Program the first week of October. The students and their teacher were incredibly welcoming and engaged. They learned about the various aspects of what our affiliate does—from building homes to reclaiming materials to revitalizing neighborhoods—and saw photos of some of our homeowners, volunteers and homes. One student even asked how he could help us in building homes, communities and hope himself.
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After the informative portion ended, the students had a fun and educational activity. To demonstrate how difficult it can be to find and build shelter, the students were put into small groups and given a few materials that happened to be readily available in their classroom. With newspaper, magazines and tape, their task was to build a structure in which at least one person could fit. 

​There was a great amount of creativity from these young people. Many had a similar basic idea, but where they went from there was varied and interesting to see. Some of the results were very successful and stable, and each group ended up with some sort of creative design

More importantly, they were all enthusiastic about how difficult it was and realized how hard it would be for someone to try and find shelter all on their own. It is great to see an understanding of the crucial need for available housing sparked in young people. 

September was Do-It-Yourself (DIY) month in the Habitat for Humanity-La Crosse Area ReStore. To celebrate, we held a Facebook contest. People were invited to comment on our post naming and tagging their favorite DIYer.

As with our last few Facebook drawings, there was a great level of participation. There were tons of names in our drawing jar. The lucky winner was Tammy Brockman.

Tammy uses her DIY skills far and wide in her life. She loves making her own decorations for varying seasons and occasions. She enjoys changing her house around and turning old into new.

Tammy explained that her kids and grandkids never have had to buy a costume because she designs them all on her own. She is currently crafting a rainbow costume for a grandchild.

Tammy also designs and makes wedding decorations, sticking with her hobby of making old new again.
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Congratulations to Tammy, and thanks to everyone who nominated a DIYer in your life! 

​We’re happy to announce a new member to our Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area team. Jake Zabinski is our new Community Outreach Coordinator.

Jake has lived in Wisconsin his whole life. He is originally from Camp Douglas but has lived in La Crosse for about three years now.

Jake comes to Habitat La Crosse after a year and a half as Cabin Coffee’s Marketing and Sales Manager. Before that, he worked in a distribution center and ran a small business with his father. 



Jake loves running, swimming, the television show Mad Men, the color mint green, the violin and the book “Out of the Silent Planet.” We're happy to have Jake as part of the Habitat family! ​
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Oktoberfest is here, and Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area is happy to be part of the festivities. Thursday evening we were able to take part in the Torchlight Parade.

​Our float theme this year is “Building Sustainable Communities.” To fit this theme, we designed a small community to fit our float. Our community includes a community center, a grocery store, a post office and of course a home, the center of our work here at Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area. We are also featuring the Woofs and Roofs doghouses designed for our competition earlier this year. These will be available for auction soon, so be on the lookout.

​In designing our float and planning for the parades this year, we partnered with the Coulee Region Humane Society and La Crosse Urban Stormwater Group. This allowed us to have extra help from two-legged and four-legged friends. 

The Stormwater Group provided the greenery for our community. Plants, trees and water cleanliness are a vital part of every community, and Habitat is committed to environmentally friendly homebuilding and reusing.
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Most of those who walked along with our staff and the Stormwater Group were partner families and their friends. This meant we had tons of little hands to pass out candy. It is so nice to see our Habitat families being so involved in our community activities! 

Our float also served to announce our upcoming Raise the Roof concert, which will be held Saturday, January 12. Look out for more details soon, and mark your calendars in the meantime.
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We had a great time at the Torchlight Parade, and we are thrilled to be in the Maple Leaf Parade tomorrow. Look out for our float, and enjoy Oktoberfest! 

​On Saturday, Sept. 15, Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area was able to be part of PALM + PINE Yoga’s first birthday celebration. 

Earlier in the summer, the yoga studio let the community vote on a local nonprofit to benefit from the fundraising they planned to do to celebrate their successful first year here. We were thrilled when Habitat La Crosse was selected. Our collaboration in preparation for the event was full of enthusiasm and went very smoothly. Everyone involved was passionate about the opportunity to celebrate community.

PALM + PINE offered three donation-based classes during the event. They graciously donated all the funds thus raised to Habitat La Crosse to support our efforts in building homes, communities and hope. Additionally, they designed a stylish shirt for the event and sent a quarter of its sales back to building homes.
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On the day of the event, two members of the Habitat La Crosse team were able to take a yoga class led by one of the event’s main planners. This was an excellent start to a day that only became better. The turnout was terrific, as members of the La Crosse community opened their hearts and donated generously to our cause all the while celebrating a welcoming gathering place for gratitude and kindness. Some of us sported the cute and comfortable shirts throughout the day, and we were even joined by a very young yogi. 

Around lunchtime, Taco Town joined Habitat La Crosse and PALM + PINE to add some fuel to the party. Soon after, the Makers’ Market began. Local businesses displayed and sold their unique wares, a further indication of the greatness this community has to share.
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By the end of the day, Habitat La Crosse raised almost $500 to help us build homes, communities and hope. We are so thankful to PALM + PINE, Taco Town, the contributing local businesses and all the individuals who joined us in yoga and community.