Kaua`i Habitat for Humanity is a locally run affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, a non profit, ecumenical Christian housing organization. Kaua`i Habitat seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from Kaua`i, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Kaua`i Habitat was founded in 1993 after hurricane Iniki struck the island and since then has completed 100 houses around the island from Hanalei to Kekaha, providing 550 people with safe, decent, affordable shelter.

Kaua`i Habitat for Humanity is a community organization, working in partnership with people of all faiths who are dedicated to Habitat's mission of helping families in need to build and renovate decent, affordable housing on the island. Volunteers provide most of the labor, and individual and corporate donors provide money and materials to build Habitat houses. Partner families themselves invest hundreds of hours of labor - 'sweat equity' - into building their homes and the homes of others. Their mortgage payments go into a revolving Fund for Humanity that is used to build more homes. The homes then are sold to those in need at no profit and with no interest charged.

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Many Hands Blessed Two More Habitat Homes

A House Blessing of the Keuma’s and Gampong’s New Homes

was held on Friday, May 7th

Many Habitat volunteers, donors, and staff gathered in Hanapepe at the House Blessing for the Keuma Family and the Gampong Family brand new homes. Their achievement of homeownership has been made possible by many helping hands, from Build-a-thon volunteers to generous donors around Kaua`i and all of North America. This event celebrated the contributions of everyone who hammered nails, donated money, and supported the hard work of the Keuma’s and the Gampong’s as they labored towards the goal of building their own homes.
The first and most important people who make a Habitat house possible are the Habitat homeowners themselves. Peter Gampong was born and raised on the Westside of Kaua`i, and his Hawaiian heritage comes through in a spirit of aloha that encompasses everyone who works with him. Aside from his full time job as Manager of the Shrimp Station restaurant in Waimea, Peter has been a dedicated worker on the construction site and a huge help as chef at our volunteer Mahalo parties. Peter and Leslie are raising four boys, and the two oldest brothers PJ and Austin have also been very active in helping out on the job site. One might wonder how you motivate two teenagers to give up their weekends working on a dusty construction site? Before the new home was completed, the brothers shared a 10 by 10 room with each other. With the Gampong’s house now completed, the brothers will each have a whole room to themselves, and space enough for the whole family. The Gampong’s house at 5119 Moi Road in Hanapepe Heights is the 101st Habitat home built by Kaua`i Habitat for Humanity on the island since 1993.
Just two houses over, the 102nd Habitat house is finally ready for the Keuma family. Healani and Kainoa Keuma are already well acquainted with the Habitat experience because Kainoa’s mother, Jennie Keuma, built her home through Kaua`i Habitat on another Hawaiian Homelands lot in 2006, just down the road. Now Kainoa and Healani’s children, nieces, and nephews can easily visit Grandma with a hop, skip, and a jump, the next generation of Keumas to be born and raised on Kaua`i with a sound roof over their heads.
Who else helps raise the roof on a Habitat house? Working right alongside the homeowners, Kaua`i Habitat for Humanity receives scores of volunteers from around the island as well as from the mainland US. From local individuals such as Dan Rowe, who comes by every week to repair our valuable construction tools, to mainland Global Village teams who stay with us for 10 days of construction and a little island exploration, volunteers are the lifeblood of Habitat that keeps us building. Over 100 volunteers have helped out on the 101st and 102nd Habitat houses alone!
Our generous donors are a vital group of people who have made the Keuma and Gampong families’ houses possible. While the volunteers and homeowners are out on the work site raising walls, our generous family of supporters, from private foundations to individual residents of Kaua`i, are helping us raise the money to buy building materials, pay our small staff, and keep us running. Visit our
Mahalo! page to learn more about who helps us build homes and build hope here at Kaua`i Habitat.
It takes many, many people to build houses and build better futures for new generations of homeowners.

P.S. If you were not able to make it out to the House Blessing in May, please consider making a Tribute Gift in honor of the newest homeowners.