KILLEEN, TEXAS — On any given weekend, you can find Maribel Rivera and her two daughters in paint-stained clothes, holding hammers or paint rollers dripping in muted colors, like blue or grey. “We spend quality time together, they’re not doing anything bad, they’re supervised and we’re working toward a house,” she explained. The three oftentimes volunteer with theFort Hood Area Habitat for Humanity and have been for a little over a year now. It gives Rivera a chance to teach stability to her daughters while working on the homes. “Rather than an apartment where I'm just giving my money,” Rivera went on. “Instead, having something stable so if anything happens to me, they have somewhere to go.” They’re just a few in a group of volunteers who came out to revitalize different parts of North Killeen Saturday as a part of the Hammering with Purpose.
However, due to the ongoing pandemic, volunteers may be hard to come by these days.
“When we had to say, “Hey, we just can't accept no volunteers right now,” it was hard, because we want to be able to give them that opportunity to learn about our organization,” said Kristin Smith, the director of finance and human resources for the FH Area Habitat for Humanity.
Although, volunteering starts off as an individual effort, once you get involved, you turn into a little family.
“We build strength, stability and self reliance,” Smith said. “All of our volunteers understand that, and so since they understand that, and it's not, “Hey, I just want to help what habitat today,” it's, “no, I'm a family, and I'm helping another family.””
That family may be a bit smaller and more sparse these days.
“A lot of people are in need right now, so it’s like an outreach, you help people in the community and you get to know people,” Rivera explained.
Smith went on the explain that because they are a nonprofit, volunteers, grants, donations and sponsorships allow them to keep helping out.
