Volunteer Profile

“Our building was the first Habitat for Humanity project in Newark!” says Partner Family member Shirley with pride. “We’ve been here 30 years!”

Janet, one of our volunteers, says, “I would definitely recommend volunteering for Habitat for Humanity to other people. This was actually a good opportunity for me to use what I knew to help people, but also to learn other stuff. I have done everything from spackle, paint, trim, and all the fascia work.”

For his 40th birthday, volunteer Julius says, “We wanted to continue the tradition of a group volunteering event, but we wanted to do it in an environment where it would be safe. Not around a crowded group of people.” Alana Davis, our Deputy Director of Fund Development & Corporate Engagement, set up a “build day” specifically for Julius’ birthday group!

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark and Wells Fargo joined forces in November 2017 to make major improvements to home of veteran Anthony. Painting his whole house and dealing with the driveway at the same time would have been a major expense, so Anthony was relieved to find out about Habitat of Greater Newark’s Veterans Initiative.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark unanimously agrees: we hit the jackpot with our summer 2020 interns! At the beginning of the summer, our office questioned, “How does a remote internship even work?” Anna and Olivia not only showed us the way, but also put in truly outstanding work during summer 2020.

After Josh graduated from Morristown-Beard High School, he decided to take a gap year–a sensible decision during the COVID-19 pandemic. Josh says, “Habitat of Greater Newark turned out to have great volunteer options for me.”

Grand BK employees began volunteering with Habitat of Greater Newark during summer 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. Executive Secretary Jamie Chun says, “It felt great being able to be out of the office and contributing to the community.”

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark volunteer David says “After a long career in desk jobs with Citicorp and Deutsche Bank, and volunteer work which involved budgets, procedures, and programs, I was ready to do some hands-on work, and Habitat was the perfect fit for me.”

After Jeffrey Gardner’s death, his family—sister Amy Kassan, brother Eric Gardner, and parents Eileen and David Gardner—knew that they didn’t have to look far to find a suitable memorial to their “exuberant” son and brother.

Rutgers University-Newark’s Academic Foundation Center (AFC) sent eager and capable faculty and student volunteer teams to build with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark.