East Coast Couple Chooses "Honeyteering" in Boulder with Flatirons Habitat for Humanity

A very compassionate couple will spend two days (August 7 th & 8 th, 2009) of their Boulder bound honeymoon volunteering for Flatirons Habitat for Humanity.

While other young lovers spend their honeymoons sleeping on the beach and feasting in romantic restaurants, a Philadelphia couple chose to celebrate their marriage by building decks and painting walls for a family in need. The "Honeyteering" couple, Meghan Courtney and fiancé Rich Shaner state "When we were starting to plan our honeymoon, we know being at a beach or similar all week just isn't us!

Boulder is one of our favorite places where we may actually end up living down the road so we started to look there. Besides Rocky Mountain National Park, we got excited at our idea of helping build a house for another family right at the time we are starting to build our life together as a married couple! We are very much looking forward to this and could not feel more welcomed after the great correspondence with Erin Teague, Volunteer Coordinator at Flatirons Habitat for Humanity."

Flatirons Habitat for Humanity's volunteers are a significant force in fulfilling their mission. "Our volunteers experience a strong sense of cohesiveness during a build. There is an amazing feeling of unity when an individual and/or team is working towards a greater cause", Erin Teague, Volunteer Coordinator at Flatirons Habitat for Humanity. Habitat has a wide variety of volunteer opportunities available from fundraising to hands on building. "Team Build' is a great opportunity to bring a staff together by collaboration and bonding on a home build. Flatirons Habitat offers team builds that accommodate 10 - 15 people for a day of building on one of our homes and also provides all the training, tools, and lunch. Volunteers can also mentor families trying to break the cycle of poverty through the "Bridges out of Poverty" program.

About Flatirons Habitat for Humanity:

Flatirons Habitat for Humanity is a local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. Its goal is to transform lives and communities by building or renewing simple, energy-efficient, affordable homes for low-income families living in Boulder Valley and Broomfield communities.

Flatirons Habitat for Humanity has been building since 1993 with thousands of volunteer hours and the help of many local suppliers. The affiliate has built 49 homes in Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette, Louisville, Nederland, and Superior. It also has built 93 homes internationally through a tithing program with Habitat International.

Habitat houses are sold to partner families at cost with a zero interest mortgage. Habitat believes in a "hand up, not a hand out" philosophy. In addition to a down payment and the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor - sweat equity - into building their Habitat house and the houses of others. The families also receive training through the "Getting Ahead" program, this course, offered by the Flatirons affiliate, helps families gather and implement resources to break the cycle of poverty.

Habitat has built more than 225,000 houses around the world, providing more than one million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. The most recent City of Boulder housing needs assessment indicates 10,734 families have unmet housing needs in the City of Boulder. These families are paying more that 30% of their income on housing expenses; living in overcrowded conditions or living in substandard housing.