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Grants at Work Changing the World...One Family at a Time Everyone knows that carpenters build houses, so it might seem unusual that on an afternoon in June, an organic chemistry lecturer, a recent Smith College graduate, a furniture maker, and a Westfield College writing instructor were the ones measuring, cutting, toting, and pounding nails for a new home on Route 66 in Northampton. Unusual? Not for Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity which engages hundreds of volunteers to build homes that are sold to low-income families with a no-interest mortgage, providing access to the American dream of home ownership. Most of Habitat’s volunteers have little or no construction skills, so Executive Director M.J. Adams quickly recognized the need for more effective site supervision. The Community Foundation provided funding for a special training program for a core group of volunteer site supervisors who are now better prepared to oversee new volunteers and provide them with meaningful ways to participate in building projects, even if they have never lifted a hammer. The Community Foundation’s assistance would not have been possible without Nan and Matilda Heydt, whose charitable trust at the Bank of America is perpetually at work for our community, and like-minded donors to the Valley Charitable Trust, also at the Bank of America. Although both trusts were established long ago, the Foundation’s competitive grant process makes them as urgently relevant today as the day they were created.
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