Although Whatchadoin' wasn't around Tuesday, November 2nd, there seems to have been quite a bit going on. Longview was visited by Steve Biolsi, the Project Manager for the Putnam County chapter of Habitat for Humanity. 
In case you didn't know, Habitiat for Humanity is an international, non-profit ministry, whose mission is to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness by ensuring that EVERY family has a decent, safe, affordable place to live. Yes, I know it sounds like a big task, but Habitat for Humanity has a LOT of people on its side. Since Millard and Linda Fuller founded the organization in 1976, they and 1.75 million (that's 175,000,000! yikes 6 zeros!) volunteers who have either built from the gound up or rehabbed (short for rehabilitation, a fancy way of saying fixed up) over 350,000 houses in 3,000 communities world wide.
Now they don't just give away these houses, according to Steve, a family in need not only has to be chosen from among the THOUSANDS of families that apply, but once the are chosen, they have to put in HUNDREDS of hours of sweat equity (equity=value/money in the form of sweat=hard work) on their own home and the homes of other Habitat families, while their's is being built. And just like any other home owner, they have to manitain their home and pay bills like a mortgage, but unlike a regular home, when you own a Habitat home, the mortgage payment not only pays back the lender for all the supplies and land and such, but helps finance other Habitat for Humanity homes being built. Sounds like a win/win situation to me!
