Hello, my name is Doug Fitzgerald. I became aware of Habitat for Humanity in the late 1990’s when my parents’ church helped start up a new affiliate. Sometimes when visiting, my Saturdays would involve volunteering at a house build with my dad. I remember the good feeling I would get by helping and working with other volunteers.
When asked to serve on the Mecosta County Habitat board, I was very glad to get back involved with helping people get safe affordable housing. I am now serving my second tour on the Mecosta County Habitat Board and am absolutely awe struck with the changes that have taken place.
When I was first asked to be on the board, it was an all-volunteer affiliate with no paid staff. We were able to fund raise, select a family and build maybe one house per year. As the costs of materials went up and it became harder and harder to raise money to build new houses, the board decided to expand our horizons and we started up a ReStore in a small retail space south of Rogers Heights, open just a few hours a week. It very quickly became evident that this was more than could be accomplished with all volunteers. With no real assurance of where the money was going to come from, the board made the big leap hiring an Executive Director. Barb tells the story of the board telling her “We want to hire you, but we have no idea how we are going to pay you”. The truth is, we didn’t know but were confident she could make it happen.
Under Barb’s leadership, I have seen the affiliate grow exponentially. We moved the ReStore into the current space, which has drastically increased the number of donations we receive, and the customers served. The Critical Home Repair program, the Veterans Programs, working with MSHDA, USDA Rural Development and obtaining grants from Big Box stores and Local Governmental agencies, Mecosta County Habitat is now helping 100’s if not 1000’s of people to acquire safe, affordable housing. What a difference from building one house per year! May God Bless all the people that make it work!!
