134 homes built. Hundreds of lives changed.

Find out how you can help.

How to become a Habitat Volunteer

Habitat for Humanity of Orange County is a volunteer-driven organization. We welcome people from all walks of life to join us in our mission to end substandard housing throughout Orange County. We have a variety of volunteer opportunities, with onsite construction work being the most popular form.

Builders

Individual Volunteers

Perhaps the most popular image of the Habitat supporter is that of a hard-hat wearing, hammer-wielding volunteer. Volunteer labor is extremely important to Habitat's work. No matter what your particular skills, Habitat can use your help.

Types of construction volunteers:

  • Occasional Volunteers

    Occasional volunteers show up on site to help build houses. An occasional volunteer may be new to Habitat or a long-time volunteer who schedules for builds at personal convenience. This is the "salt of the earth" volunteer who hammers, nails, and paints our plans into reality.

  • Green Team Members

    The Green Team consists of priority-status volunteers committed to building for Habitat one day or more per month. As such, they occupy a position between casual volunteers and Crew Leaders. Members commit to spend a minimum of one day per month working at a build site. They receive priority sign-up privileges, meaning they can always get onto a build site. This is a great way to learn to build houses the Habitat way, and to share leadership skills with other volunteers.

  • Crew Leaders

    A Crew Leader is someone who has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity long enough to know how Habitat builds houses and is willing to help our Occasional Volunteers learn the ropes. A Crew Leader may be someone with vast construction experience or someone who learned through volunteering with Habitat. We are always looking for potential Crew Leaders and invite new recruits to join the team. Crew Leaders are invited to meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Habitat office for training and idea sharing. For more information on becoming a Crew Leader contact the Volunteer Coordinator via email.

  • Geezer Gang

    The Geezer Gang is a wonderful group of people who volunteer on weekdays, Tuesday through Friday. They are men and women of all ages who happily dedicate regular time to building, but are not interested in working on Saturdays when the site if full of new volunteers. These are the volunteers who manage to keep our builds on schedule with their regular service. Geezers are invited to attend our monthly meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month, but as one of them was overheard saying, "Geezers don't do meetings---we just like to build."

  • Professional Volunteers

    While we welcome volunteers of all skill levels we are also in need of professional volunteers. If you have any professional skills and are interested in volunteering your time please contact the Volunteer Coordinator via email so we can add you to our Professional Volunteers interest list.

Online Registration and Sign-up for Construction Volunteers ~ VUP ~

  • We invite you to register online and sign-up for build dates at your convenience. (Printable Instruction Flyer)Our online registration provides individual volunteers with the opportunity to sign-up a group of 5 volunteers. If you are interested in signing up a group of 5 or more volunteers please fill out and submit a group registration form and our Volunteer Coordinator will contact you to schedule a build day.
  • If you are interested in something other than construction please refer to the Volunteer Committees page for committee contact information.
  • Volunteers interested in working at Habitat construction sites can find Job Site Information here plus a FAQ list.

Volunteer Groups

Onsite Construction is the most popular of Habitat's volunteer opportunities for groups. We welcome churches, businesses and student organizations to participate in most all of our volunteer opportunities.

Online Group Registration

If you are interested in getting a group involved please fill out and submit an online group registration form so we can contact you about upcoming build opportunities.

Youth Involvement

At Habitat we believe in our youth, and are continually seeking new ways to help get them involved in our organization. Youth are welcome to create gifts for our Habitat homeowners, prepare and serve lunch at a construction site, work in the ReStore or organize a variety of fundraising events. For liability reasons anyone under the age of 16 is not allowed on our construction sites. Volunteers ages 16 and 17 are welcome to build with us and are asked to bring a liability waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian on their first build day. We require the young volunteer to be accompanied by an adult 25 years of age or older for the first 3 builds. If after the first three builds this young adult is confident and committed he/she is allowed to come on their own. Please contact our Youth Programs Coordinator if you are interested in getting involved.

Orientation - Habitat Night

We conduct a new volunteer orientation the first Tuesday of each month alternating every other month between North County and South County. Attendance at an orientation is not mandatory, but we strongly recommend attending in order to establish a strong foundation of the history and mission of Habitat for Humanity of Orange County. Please join us from 6:30 pm to 8:00pm.

North County: Sisters of St. Joseph's Center, 480 Batavia, Orange

South County: Community Presbyterian Church, Fellowship Hall, 32202 Del Obispo St, San Juan Capistrano

Future Orientation Dates for 2009

North County:  Feb 3, Apr 7, June 2, Aug 4, Oct 6, Dec 1

South County: Jan 6, Mar 3, May 5, July 7, Sept 1, Nov 3