Team Up with Habitat Goldsboro-Wayne

FAQ

1. What is a Team Up Project?
   Team Up Project is national collaborative program put together by Habitat for Humanity International, Catholic Charities, Interfaith America and YMCA of the USA. It began in 2022 with the founding partners agreeing that there is a need for stronger connections and better understanding between people in communities throughout the country. Learn more at teamupproject.org.
    
2. So what is the purpose of the Team Up Project?
   Team Up’s mission is to empower people to build connections and work together across differences with others in their communities for the common good. The project's organizers - and us at Habitat Goldsboro-Wayne - believe that strong personal connections and supportive, constructive and collaborative environments are the foundations of thriving communities. The goal then is to bring people from diverse backgrounds together and create avenues for bridge building by elevating and supporting opportunities of kindness, human connection and cooperation.
    
3. That sounds great, but WHY is Habitat Goldsboro-Wayne doing this?
   As a new nonprofit serving Lenoir County we are still working to build our own bridges and our own relationships. We want to get to know our new community. And, as we have been working on that, we have also heard people in the community speak about divides that exist in Lenoir County. So thought this opportunity - and the grant funding that comes with - would be a great way not only for Habitat to build relationships, but a way that we could use our program and our job site to bring people together who may not always interact with one another.
    
4. Any other reasons?
   There is one other motivating factor that we want to share with community and that we think will help move these efforts beyond the superficial and into territory where we begin to look at and maybe begin to better understand some of the forces that have shaped Lenoir County and eastern North Carolina, while also beginning some conversations about ongoing solutions to the challenges those forces continue to create.
    
5. So HOW will Habitat do this?
   We are inviting people to sign up for at least one of a series of special small group volunteer experiences. These experiences will take place at our newest construction site at 218 E. Railroad St., LaGrange. They will be held between April 28 and June 19, with some shifts from 9-1 and some from 1:30-5:30. Most will be on Thursdays with a couple of Saturdays available. If those dates/times don't work but you'd like to be involved, please contact lstallings@habitatgoldsboro.org. These volunteer experiences will be limited to 2-6 people. Our goal is that volunteers will spend the first several hours working side-by-side, hopefully beginning to get to know each other as they strive toward a common goal. We then will invite the volunteers to break bread together and engage in a lightly facilitated conversation designed to help folks get to know and understand each other a little bit better, and to begin to draw out different experiences and perspectives on the future of our community. Note, this experience is designed for residents of Lenoir County.
    
6. Why does Habitat think this will work?
   We believe in something the founder of Habitat International called the "Theology of the Hammer" which essentially holds that when people of diverse backgrounds are working and sweating side by side toward a common purpose, differences tend to diminish and even disappear. Our prayer is that by first working together and knowing that if nothing else, at least they have that in common, that our volunteers will be more open to conversation. Plus food never hurts.
    
7. OK, again, that's great. But what's the ultimate goal? 
   Fair question. We don't expect that solutions to every challenge will be found and that lives will be forever changed. It would be great if we walk away with all the answers and even one life is changed, but we know those things take time. So all we ask is that anyone who signs up do so with an open heart and open mind, and that if they learn anything in this process about their community or someone's life experience, that they share it (without naming names) with someone else. And then if there are solutions to challenges that are identified that Habitat can work to address through our affordable home ownership efforts, or that we can support others in the community addressing, then we hope to be able to do that.