Volunteer Spotlight

Tyler Yliniemi is a student at St. Cloud State University.  He started volunteering for CMHFH in July 2010.  He enjoyed being able to volunteer for a 4 or 8 hour shift and over a period of weeks.  It allowed him to see projects from start to finish.  When asked why he liked to volunteer, Tyler said, "It gives people the ability to see how, when a community comes together and works as a team, great works may be accomplished."
 
Tyler said he chose to get involved with Habitat because "as a college student in tough economic times, it is not unheard of for many people to be only a paycheck or two from losing their place to sleep. It is always in the back of my mind that most people are good at heart, and it's great to be part of a hands-on involvement and support the community through an organization which has positive impacts on many families."

Here's some advice from Tyler: "If you've ever just painted a room, or are even a star tradesperson, volunteering for Habitat is one of the easiest ways to bring light to the community while providing for the future."

Larry Paulson

Larry Paulson started volunteering for CMHFH in May of 2010 doing lawn mowing for a couple of Habitat properties that had not been built on yet.  He continued to volunteer for over 50 hours by the end of the year, also doing construction, helping the Habitat office move, and helping with Habitat's yard sale.  Larry chose to volunteer because, to him, Habitat is an organization where "the rubber meets the road."  Larry said that Habitat is "helping local families and our community by doing something that otherwise would never be a reality.  Habitat provides real life solutions and housing for those (who are) truly unable to get this help anywhere else."

"I just want to say that Habitat is a class organization with a strong focus on the goals they intend to achieve. There is little waste in any part of the organization. Impressed by the concern of Habitat to use to its fullest every resource, I even donated money to Habitat as well as my time. I interacted with a few of the neighbors of the properties I maintained. The neighbors would be pleased to learn Habitat owned the property because they knew it would be taken care of and it would not be long until a new neighbor would be next door."

Larry thoroughly enjoyed his volunteer time with Habitat because of "the people, the administration staff, the other volunteers, and the entire Habitat organization."  He said "everyone is easy to work with and very appreciative even for my limited contributions.  I never once felt unimportant and was always treated with courtesy and respect from top to bottom."  We at CMHFH hope that all of our volunteers feel this way!