How can you help improve your community while also helping a charitable organization? Nancy Slingerland, the vice president of the Ulster County chapter of Habitat for Humanity has the answer.

She and other members of Habitat for Humanity will be canvassing the village and town this weekend seeking volunteers for help completing a house being constructed on Clinton Avenue in Ellenville. They will also have a table at Ellenville ShopRite, where shoppers will have the opportunity to sign up to volunteer. Then, on Saturday, September 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Habitat for Humanity will be holding a volunteer drive at the Ellenville Public Library and Museum.

"We're looking for all kinds of skilled and unskilled laborers," says Slingerland. The list of different tasks volunteers might be able to pitch in with range from painting, to cleaning up, to helping with the dedication of the house. "There's a lot of dust that needs to be cleaned up after putting up drywall," she notes.

The project to build the home, with the donation of a modular building from Ulster BOCES, had its groundbreaking on June 18, and is the second such home in the village, and the home is being built for Ellenville-resident Romina Villardi.

Hopefully Habitat will have enough volunteers to have the home finished and ready for Villardi to move in by the end of the year. Of course, if you want to help, but you're not mechanically-inclined, the organization is always looking for volunteers for its board, such as people to head up the church-relations committee for Ulster County, or to work on the publicity and public relations committee.

"We need help with fundraisers," says Slingerland. "It's not just pounding nails."

The organization can be found online at ulstercountyhabitat.org, and can be reached by phone at 845-340-0907.

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