Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity is an international Christian non-profit organization that was founded in Americus in 1976. The organization is active in the world in about 100 countries. The aim of the organization is to poor families around the world to provide safe and adequate shelter. Since the foundation created a total of nearly 600,000 accommodations. This means that more than 3 million people could be helped.

A German subsidiary is located since 1998 in Cologne, it is a non profit organization has eleven full-time employees. Regional offices are located in Berlin and Munich.

Habitat for Humanity selects families that get a very low interest loan for house building and also lend a hand. The loan can be repaid within the financial possibilities also for many years.

Habitat for Humanity is funded mainly through private and corporate donations and works with numerous volunteers in the accounting year 2011/2012 had Habitat for Humanity worldwide total revenue of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars.

In Germany in the fiscal year 2011/12 the revenue to 1.6 million euros.

History

Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 by ​​the lawyer Millard Fuller and his wife Linda in Americus (Georgia ). As a successful businessman and lawyer Fuller was only 29 years already a multi-millionaire. A few years later (1968 ) completed Millard and Linda Fuller, however, a radical life change: They decided to give up their wealth, sold their property and donated their wealth for social purposes. From now on, they wanted to live their lives on Christian values ​​and standards and moved with her children to the Koinonia Farm in Georgia.

There they met Clarence Jordan and together created the idea of ​​a Fund for Humanity. They began to build houses and sell them to needy families in the local area who had to live in inhumane living conditions. They even wanted to achieve with this work no profit, but to break the vicious circle of poverty and disease through the creation of safe and healthy living conditions to give in this way the affected families a new self -esteem and therefore also prospects for the future. From their experience, the Fullers developed a sustainable building concept that was based on self- service, neighborhood watch, volunteer commitment and a financing fund.

1973 attracted the Fullers with her four children to Africa to there in Zaire ( now Democratic Republic of Congo) to test their construction concept. The experiment was a great success for the developing country and Fuller was now convinced that his model could be applied worldwide. As Millard Fuller in 1976 returned with his family to the United States, was made the foundation of the organization Habitat for Humanity International for him.