Winter 2010 | Volume 108 | Number 654
A Labor of Love
Four years ago, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans teamed up
with Habitat for Humanity to form Thrivent Builds with
Habitat for Humanity. The unprecedented alliance has since built more than 2,000 homes, but that's only half the story.
by Zach Dundas
Four years ago, Ron and Jean Gratz decided to hit the road as full-time travelers in their 41-foot RV. The Wisconsin natives – who attended the same confirmation class as kids and have been married for 44 years – couldn't wait to see the country and loved their rig. Their time on the road has taken them from Florida to Alaska, and while they get their mail forwarded from an address in Texas, they have no fixed dwelling. "Home is where we park," Ron says. While Ron and Jean like their rolling-stone lifestyle, the couple never set out to be stereotypical sightseers.
"We needed a meaningful activity, something that would make us more than full-time tourists," Ron says. While in South Carolina in 2005, the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans members discovered their passion when they volunteered on a Habitat for Humanity construction project, helping to build a new home with a low-income family. Now, Ron and Jean work on Thrivent Builds houses as they travel across the country. "We'll do anything from digging the foundation to finishing carpentry," Ron says. "Anything they need."
For Ron and Jean, working with Thrivent Builds is a hands-on way to live out their values. For Thrivent Financial, their work and that of tens of thousands of other members and volunteers formed the core of a remarkable alliance that has transformed lives around the country and around the world.
Time to Celebrate
Last year, Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity – a one-of-a-kind alliance that united Habitat's home-building mission with the energy and dedication of Thrivent Financial members and representatives – marked the fourth and final year of its formal alliance. The relationship between the two organizations, however, continues.
Many of the qualities that define Thrivent Builds' success of the last four years are intangible: lives and families transformed; communities rebuilt; volunteers' sense of fulfillment. But the program's numbers are, themselves, extraordinary. An estimated 370,000 people have volunteered their time and labor at project building sites – for a total of more than 2 million work hours. (To find out about Thrivent Builds projects in your area, go to Thriventbuilds.com.)
All that effort has paid off. Thrivent Builds volunteers poured foundations in 46 states and the District of Columbia – building more than 1,300 homes in the U.S. by the end of 2009. Through Thrivent Builds Worldwide, the alliance's international program, volunteers have funded or built nearly 700 houses in 32 different countries.
Thrivent Builds had a commitment of $125 million from Thrivent Financial. For each individual home constructed in the United States, Thrivent chapters and members – along with members of their Lutheran congregations and other volunteers – contributed an additional 10% of needed funding. Volunteers raised an additional $14.4 million across the country.
Beyond the raw numbers, there are plenty of other reasons Thrivent Builds touched so many people. The alliance gave Lutheran congregations across the country a way to engage with their communities and offered dedicated volunteers like Ron and Jean a deeply meaningful and practical opportunity to serve others.
"The home is the foundation of financial security for most people," says Brad Hewitt, chief operating officer at Thrivent Financial. "Decent shelter and the opportunity to build equity are the mainstays for families. Through Thrivent Builds, you see Thrivent Financial's mission to help establish financial security mirror Habitat's goal to provide better housing for families in need."
Above all, as Thrivent Builds celebrates its hard-earned success, the alliance proves how much two organizations and their members can accomplish when they combine forces.
In the Beginning
In 2002, when Aid Association for Lutherans and Lutheran Brotherhood merged to create Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, many of the newly united organization's local chapters already worked with Habitat in one way or another. Their members, attracted to Habitat's hands-on mission and Christian values, gave the organization money and time, both as individuals and through their church congregations.
Once the two fraternal organizations were working as one, it was time to make a dedicated effort to get involved.
"We sat down and looked at all the things we did as an organization," Hewitt says. "And our relationship with Habitat was on that list. But frankly, it was one of many things. We wanted a national program that our members and chapters could engage with – something that provided a way for our members to live their values and for us to help. And we wanted a project we could point to and say, 'This is what Thrivent Financial is all about.'"
Those aspirations led to the 2005 formation of Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, an alliance with an independent staff drawn from both organizations and ambitious goals to expand the scope of Habitat's work.
Though the alliance started with four programs, it evolved to two, which are continuing this year. Thrivent Builds Homes focuses on U.S. home builds and is managed at a local level. Thrivent Builds Worldwide offers Thrivent Financial members opportunities to travel and work with volunteers from that community, mostly outside the U.S. (see Have Hammer, Will Travel).
In both programs, Thrivent Builds projects begin with the goal of providing a simple, decent house for a family in need. By expanding the number of individual houses a local Habitat affiliate can build, Thrivent Builds' funding and volunteer efforts help create groups of new homes in targeted areas. This strategy is key to Habitat's approach to the complex problem of creating affordable housing.
"Everything we do is interrelated," says Jonathan Reckford, chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International. "If we build one family a place to live, that means a better life for them. If we cluster houses together, we can hit a critical mass that transforms a whole neighborhood. The children in all those homes will stay healthier and do better in school. So we look for one thing to build on another."
Likewise, the relationships formed through Thrivent Builds – among volunteers, congregations and local Habitat affiliates – amount to more than any single construction project. "The beauty of Habitat, in many ways, is that you can go out and see our work," Reckford says. "It's very tangible. But with Thrivent Builds, there's an intangible side, too – the beginning of relationships between volunteers and new communities."
A Solid Foundation
Thrivent Builds is active in many places – building projects were completed in 37 states for 2009 – but Des Moines, Iowa, provides a telling example of how the alliance worked.
The year before Thrivent Builds began funding projects in Des Moines, the local Habitat affiliate built 10 houses. Starting in 2006, Thrivent Builds helped Greater Des Moines Habitat expand its capacity by funding an additional three new projects per year. So far, Thrivent Builds has provided funding and volunteers for 13 Des Moines houses – including three of the 22 houses built in 2009.
"Success begets success," says Brendalyn Shird of Greater Des Moines Habitat. "Even beyond the direct involvement of Thrivent Financial members, we've been able to point to this successful partnership and what we've accomplished with Thrivent Builds, and that helps us with other projects." In fact, since Thrivent Builds began supporting the work of Greater Des Moines Habitat, it has more than doubled its annual production.
"One of the biggest results, from our point of view, is that Thrivent Builds has helped us form deep, ongoing relationships with a number of Lutheran churches and their members," Shird says. "We now have a corps of folks we call our Wednesday regulars – people who started with us because of Thrivent Builds who now come out midweek to work on our other projects, too. That is an enormous asset that goes beyond the simple numbers."
On the Road Again
This summer, Ron and Jean Gratz found themselves in Kalispell, Montana, working on a duplex partially funded by Thrivent Builds. For these two longtime members, Thrivent Financial's involvement helps strengthen their commitment to Habitat's vital work.
"We're Lutherans and Thrivent Financial members, so when we see that a particular Habitat project is supported by Thrivent Builds, that makes it even more attractive to us," Ron says. "The payoff – besides seeing the country – is that we help people who are really in need of housing. In our morning devotions, we always say that Habitat is not a handout, it's a hand up. We help people, and in the process we're meeting the very finest people in every community we visit."
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