Changing the World One Home at a Time

Changing the World One Home At A Time.

Hannah Litty



While I have worked on various service projects, my favorite type of volunteer
work is reaching out to the homeless. Working to end homelessness is
my favorite volunteer area because it’s such a big problem. When
someone has no place to live, not only is it unsafe, it destroys a
person’s sense of self-worth. I chose this area to focus on because
I firmly believe that nobody should suffer the pain of not having a
safe space to call their own. I usually complete about 2 hours of
volunteer work a week and typically work an entire week during the
summer in cities along the East coast. While volunteering I’m
usually responsible for ensuring that all my personal tasks are done
correctly and efficiently.
One of the biggest challenges that I’ve faced during my time volunteering is
being able to make a connection with the people I’ve built houses
for. I believe that building houses is only half of the battle of
homelessness, the other half is inspiring hope. While giving someone
a place to live is of utmost importance, it’s also important to
show people that there’s still hope for a better life. By making a
connection with people, it shows them there are people who still care
and want to help them. This is such a challenge because people often
aren’t in a place where they believe their lives can get better,
but by continually showing them that there is still hope for them it
makes it possible to make a difference in their lives that is much
bigger than a house.
As a volunteer, I get the most satisfaction when I finish a project and can step back
and see the change it will make in someone’s life. All the time and
challenging work becomes worth it when you can see the joy on
someone’s face and know that they will finally have a place to call
their own. Throughout my time volunteering I learned that although
there’s almost nothing as rewarding as volunteering, you can rarely
do it alone. Almost every project I have done that has had a
long-lasting impact, has been done with a group of people working
together for the greater good and to better the lives of those around
them. While volunteer work is possible alone, working together
creates the kind of high-level impact that will change the world –
one home at a time.
I hope to fight homelessness throughout my career by creating a cost-efficient
housing plan that will reduce the overall homeless population. By
majoring in architecture, I hope to gain the knowledge I need to
defeat homelessness both domestically and globally. I strongly
believe that my volunteer efforts will make an impact for years to
come. The families that live in those homes will continue to live
there and stay happy and healthy and raise the next generation of
people to seek the change we all wish to see in the world.