Lewis Lane
A Habitat for Humanity house receives a top to bottom restoration
There’s nothing like helping someone build and buy their own home.
Habitat for Humanity organizes volunteer builds of quality, affordable homes and guides prospective homeowners through the purchase process. Each future homeowner has to invest sweat equity before they purchase their home.
I started volunteering for South County Habitat for Humanity (SCHH) as a builder in January of 2025. I was getting ready to shut down the short lived picture framing shop I experimented with and wanted a break from my main career as a commercial photographer. After a couple rounds of volunteering, the Habitat team learned of my photography work and asked if I could occasionally document their build sites and volunteer activities.
Photographing for SCHH reinvigorated my love for photography. I love to work with my hands, architecture and design, building sciences, volunteerism and photography, so it became the perfect combination of my passions. SCHH uses the photos for their fundraising and outreach efforts; mailers, website, social website, etc.
SCHH has an incredible team of dedicated employees and volunteers. Its building committee includes some of the preeminent architects and building science experts in the region, and SCHH houses regularly meet energy U.S. Department of Energy Zero Energy and Zero Energy Ready efficiency standards.
These results are achieved without exotic materials or cumbersome building processes; they are run of the mill materials put to good use by passionate volunteers and driven leaders. Lay people building Zero Energy houses. Incredible.
Within weeks, I had self-assigned myself a detailed photo documentary project about the rehabilitation of a Habitat house near the University of Rhode Island. The house had originally been built by SCHH back in the 90s and served its one owner family well for nearly 30 years. When they no longer had use for it, the family sold the house back to SCHH so it could be rehabilitated and sold to another new Habitat family. Once again, incredible.
To see the project from start through its dedication showed the difference we can make in the lives around us if we devote the time and energy to do so.
If you are local to southern Rhode Island or southeastern Connecticut and want to get involved with South County Habitat for Humanity, check out the variety of volunteer opportunities they offer for all interests and abilities: South County Habitat for Humanity Volunteers.
If you’re reading from further afield, find a Habitat for Humanity chapter near you.
