Andersen Corporation Helps Federal Agency Employees Build Habitat Home

A lot of hard work and generosity culminated in the dedication celebration of a new Habitat for Humanity home on October 7 in St. Paul. While the completion of a Habitat home in the Twin Cities may not be unique (there are currently nearly 600 such homes), this particular home represents some distinctive partnerships.

The home was only the second such Habitat for Humanity home in the country to be built by volunteer employees from federal agencies. Andersen Corporation of Bayport, Minn., donated $50,000 to purchase the building materials for the house, and many employee groups from various agencies helped with the fundraising by holding dances, car washes, bowling outings, flower sales, even a "Taste of Downtown Minneapolis" event. The federal agencies raised approximately $25,000 to pay for all of the volunteer support services and supplies - such as lunches, first aid kits, water, coffee, etc. And there was enough left over to purchase some special gifts for the family that will soon move into the house and to set some funds aside to seed next year's build.

Federal employees from 23 agencies in the Twin Cities metropolitan area joined together to help build the home. Diane Langer, air traffic manager for St. Paul Air Traffic Control Tower, Federal Aviation Administration, and Bob Clatterbuck of the Transportation Security Administration headed the effort to organize volunteers and secure donations.

"Nearly 500 employees from all these different federal agencies came together to help someone in need," said Langer. "We found that we not only helped someone else, but we had a great time getting know each other on the job site. It was a terrific team-building effort - one that just doesn't happen any other way."

"We're already talking about the home we'll build with Habitat next year," said Clatterbuck. "Helping someone else in such a tangible way and building personal relationships with other federal employees in the process has been more rewarding than I can say. It's definitely worth repeating!"

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