The Partnership Home Program (PHP) took shape in the hearts of MDS staff and volunteers, as a way to “bring as many families home as possible, in the shortest amount of time.”
The primary objective of PHP, in conjunction with the mission of MDS, is to increase our ability to meet more needs with more volunteers by building quality houses for families that lack traditional means of resources, such as insurance, skilled labor and funds. The PHP bridges the gap between need and service, client and volunteer, by providing survivors with a home, and giving a sponsoring church the opportunity to partner with other congregations.
This program can include a church group traveling to a site and constructing a house over the course of several weeks, or another option that has gained recent momentum is to build panel houses at various locations such as warehouses, universities, churches, parking lots, and gyms. After construction, the panels are placed on a truck and shipped to the homeowner’s site, at which time the same volunteers assemble the panels and complete the remaining construction of the house.
Families have already benefited from this program. During the 2007 Mennonite Church USA convention held in San Jose, CA, volunteers constructed a single house, beginning in the parking lot, in five weeks—one week to complete the foundation at the building site, one week in San Jose to build the panels, and three full weeks to erect the panels and finish the house. Church members were excited as they witnessed the panels being built. Volunteers exclaimed, “We can do that!” Since then, churches have been asking MDS how they, too, can participate.
MDS understands the financial burden placed on volunteers, especially those in the construction trade, as they leave family and jobs for a week or more to work at a project. This program relieves some of this burden by allowing volunteers to construct panels in their own church parking lots. Volunteers who cannot commit to being away from home for large amounts of time have the option of spending a few hours or days constructing panels. Others may be able to serve long-term and commit to several weeks, from building the panels to completing the house. Either way, the PHP provides opportunities for all types of volunteers, short-term or long-term.
The PHP is composed of four partners: the clients, the sponsors, the community, and MDS. The clients are those without a home; the sponsors are churches that provide the materials, labor, and funds needed to build; the community group assists the program by serving as the local connection for client identification and resource gathering; and MDS assists by connecting participating parties together, seeing projects to completion.
If for any reason a sponsoring church cannot raise all of the funds needed to build, they can, through MDS, work with other sponsoring churches to share the cost. In some cases, clients are able to provide some resources if the sponsor cannot raise all of the funds. Although this program seeks to serve those in need, and is a vital part of the mission of MDS, it does not replace other programs and projects.
The success of this program depends on volunteers and sponsors like you who are willing to sacrifice convenience for service. MDS already has a number of clients that are qualified and waiting for sponsors to commit and begin serving. Please consider sponsoring a project for a deserving family, and by doing so, you will be “bringing one more family home.”
Installing the panels that were built in the parking lot in Pennsylvania on the house in Louisiana.
The piers for this home in Louisiana are reinforced with rebar and cement. -photo by Bob Wyble
The finished PHP home in Gulfport. This house was built by Shenandoah Valley of VA MDS.
Homes Completed in 2008: 3
Homes Completed in 2009: 5
Homes in Progress: 5
Click here to follow the progress of a PHP home being built by three churches in the Ephrata, PA area through the Ephrata Mennonite Church blog: Cameron Project
