Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.  Here at Muncie Habitat for Humanity we made the choice several years ago to really dig deeply into the full expression of that mission.  The work we had done for so long was accomplishing building homes, the work we began in revitalizing neighborhoods really launched us into building communities and hope.

Today, the 8twelve Coalition-the neighborhood revitalization coalition convened by Muncie Habitat for Humanity, continues to build community and hope (and homes) in Thomas Park/Avondale and South Central Neighborhoods.  We’ve been working alongside residents and coalition partners in this area since 2015 focusing on housing, beautification, business development, and education.  We root this work by creating sense of community, social cohesion, and collective action.

Collective action right now looks like residents connecting with the local food bank and enacting a plan to receive food weekly, divide it and then deliver it directly to the homes of neighbors who need it most.  Sense of community right now looks like resident leaders (supported by the Coalition) crafting bi-weekly postcards to residents.  The postcards have a message of hope about work their neighbors are doing during the crisis, an idea of how they can be that hope, and contact information for an emergency resource.  “We will get through this together”, that’s the theme of these postcards.  And isn’t that the thing we all cling to all of our days?