East Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity

Mission East Central MN Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating substandard housing and homelessness in Pine, Isanti, Chisago, Mille Lacs and Kanabec counties and to making adequate, affordable shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people from all faiths and walks of life to work together in partnership, building houses with the selected families in need. Our goal is to build safe, decent, affordable, energy efficient houses for low-income families. Dear friends, every child who gets tired at night should have a decent place to lay its precious head. Each building season more children of your struggling neighbors benefit from East Central Minnesota Habitat's program. We have now built homes for 80 little ones and their respective parents. Allow me to profile three families. Although the parents of all these children were hard working, the fruit of their labor did not allow them to escape their housing situation. The first of these is a wonderful family of eight children and their remarkable mother; all of which were living in a deplorable overcrowded housing situation that threatened their health. Their courageous mom, is a cancer survivor. Our second profile is of a family of four who lived in a mold infested house trailer with caving leaky ceilings and buckled floors. The third is a family with six children. Three of those children are autistic and two have cystic fibrosis with many special needs. The family's finances forced them to make do in a two bedroom house. God’s protective merciful compassion and tender Divine respect for children is clear and instructive throughout the Old and New Testaments. Perhaps you have a favorite verse that paints a mental image to demonstrate God’s Love for those in need of His grace. Allow me to share mine. It is the metaphor used by Jesus (Luke 13:34) as he drew upon the pastoral experience of his listeners and compared himself to a vigilant and instinctively protective mother hen. “…How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings,…” Habitat volunteers, donors, and those who support with their prayers have gathered these children under their protective wings to build them a safe decent affordable home; a place to lay down their cares and sleepy heads.