Volunteers from all over the Country Spend Time in Hawaii working with Habitat for Humanity

Fact: About one in six Americans move homes every year. However, for a group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers, it’s not about moving someone from one house to another, it’s about building homes for people to start their lives in.

According to the Garden Island, Rick Rigley of Chicago and a team of 10 other individuals stepped up to build homes in the Hawiaan neighborhood of Eleele Iluna this December.

“I’ve been to other Habitat builds in other places,” Rigley said. “It’s a lot different building houses outside of America. This is my first build in Hawaii.”

The group of 11 volunteers calls themselves the Global Village, as they are from places all around the United States. Rigley is from Chicago, another volunteer is from California, and another is from New York. Their work as a team is performed under the direction of Team Leader Kevin Bainbridge of Arizona. The team spent several days working together in early December to build homes for those in need through Habitat for Humanity.

Many of the people who volunteered had never been a part of a Habitat for Humanity event in the past, let alone built a home at all. Jeannine Zaluski of New York was one of the first-time builders.

“I volunteer a lot of painting with the county,” Zaluski said. “I thought I’d make a vacation out of this, but you need to plan early because I wanted to get out of New York before the snow fell in November. I was still delayed because my flight out was delayed at Albany and that pushed off my connecting flights.”

Between 2010 and 2015, tourism to Hawaii increased by 4.3% annually. As a result, the cost of living for homeowners has also risen accordingly. That makes the work Habitat for Humanity performs in Hawaii all the more important.

The volunteers took time to help build kitchen cabinets, install countertops, and painting walls. Glenn Etow and his wife Chris from Southern California found this opportunity to be a good one as it helps other people and helps to meet people from all over the country.

“My wife Chris has been volunteering for a long time,” Etow said. “When I retired, we decided we’d like to go traveling. This is a good way to do it because you’re doing something good for people while still getting to see new places — and you meet people you don’t normally do if you’re a tourist.”

The group worked on the houses until December 12, meaning that some lucky Hawaiian families had an extra special Christmas season.