Harford Habitat for Humanity

Youth Involvement At Harford Habitat

Download Youth Waiver - WORD | PDF

Harford Habitat for Humanity has specific policies regarding the appropriate involvement of minors in its housing ministry. While it is important that youth be directly involved with the work of Habitat for Humanity, it is also important that they be involved only in age appropriate activities. Therefore, the restrictions below are in effect and must be adhered to when minors (those less than 18 years of age) are on the construction site.

ALL PARENTS/GUARDIANS MUST CHECK WITH HOUSE LEADERS BEFORE LEAVING CHILDREN ON A WORK SITE!

All youth under the age of 18 must turn in a completed Waiver of Liability for Minors signed by them and their parent(s) or legal guardian before they can begin to work on a Habitat construction site or in the office.

Youth under the age of 18 shall not perform hazardous activities or use power tools (exception - portable electric drills during drywall installation), operate motor vehicles or assist with demolition, roofing, wiring, excavation operations, etc.

Youth ages 16 and 17 may perform general construction work but may not engage in activities considered hazardous as specified above.

Youth under the age of 16 shall not be allowed in a construction area during active construction- i.e. framing, roofing, siding, drywall, excavation, concrete. Exception is made for serving food during breaks and lunches.

Youth must be at least 16 to participate in "blitz build" related activities.

Youth ages 14 and 15 are prohibited from working in general construction. However, they may engage in limited activities such as clearing lots, landscaping, house cleaning or painting only when there is no active construction at the site. They may do tool check out/check in when not in the immediate area of construction.

In addition, there should always be adequate supervision and safety training for youth working at the site. A ratio of one adult to every three or four teenagers is mandatory.

Policy Exceptions: Youth who are in apprenticeship or vocational programs may be allowed to perform some of the normally prohibited activities (for example, carpentry students might be allowed to use power saws etc.) if they are supervised by their teacher or a qualified instructor.

Age-Appropriate Activities for Youth

Channeling the excitement and energy of youth under age 16 is a creative, challenging and rewarding process. Below are some examples of how youth have been involved with affiliates in the past. These activities have been used with (but are not limited to) church youth groups, Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, Boys and Girls Clubs and school classes.

Off Site Activities

Decorate the studs with blessings or messages to the partner family.
Fold newsletters or stuff envelopes for mailings.
Let youth design a web page for the affiliate. Work with the youth to design your newsletter or challenge an art class to design the newsletter.
Paint doors and baseboards at the warehouse.
Build birdhouses, window flower boxes, key chains or simple picture frames. All these things can be made with scraps from the worksite.
Speak to schools or groups about the mission of HFH and bring along a partner family to talk about their experience. Bring along a college or high school student to help facilitate the presentation.
Serve lunch or snacks at the work site. Have the youth bag cookies or make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Have a T-shirt design, Christmas card design or thank you card-designing contest for local youth.
Clean up a donated lot before construction begins. Partner with a local environmental group and have the youth recycle as much as they can while cleaning.
Landscape after the house is finished.
Educate the youth about the overall picture of poverty housing by taking a tour of a sub standard home or apartment. Have a partner family talk to the youth about how Habitat has impacted them. Have the youth write about their experience and publish one of their reflections in the next newsletter.

For The Partner Family

Gather house warming items (cleaning supplies, plants, etc.) and have a group of youth present it to the partner family at their house dedication.
Decorate pots for houseplants, to be given to partner family at the house dedication.
Design and sew a quilt for a partner family.
Have the youth decorate a stone or rock for the partner family; if this is being done at a vacation bible school, they can draw a blessing on the rock for the partner family's garden.

Fund Raising

Have a craft fair or silent auction for items that youth make
A bowl-a-thon
Hike for Habitat
Have youth build birdhouses, mailboxes, flower boxes etc. to sell at a local store or Habitat ReUse Center. Label each item with the young person's name, age and organization they are with. When the item sells, mail the tag back to the young person explaining how much additional money was donated to Youth United through the sale.
Sell homemade pizzas
Have youth construct a small house and collect change at their school or other location
Have each young person challenge people to donate a dollar for his or her shoe size
(i.e. size 8= $8)
Challenge an elementary school to collect pennies for Habitat and hold an assembly to have each grade present their pennies. The group with the most can get a prize (like a pizza party or extra time at recess). You can also have the youth from a covenant congregation collect change during the service by using a red wagon with a large jar in it and walk around church collecting change.
Give Legos out to different groups, organizations or programs and have each group build a house. Display the houses and have people vote on the best ones by putting money in a jar in front of each house.