Group Volunteering
Volunteer with us
Volunteer With Us
Our work in the Greater Providence and East Bay area exponentially increases through trusted community partners like you. Building safe, affordable homes literally takes a village, and we would love to have you join our vital work because everyone deserves a decent place to call home. Because of the help of people like you, whole neighborhoods improve and completely transform. Through this transformation, families achieve the strength, stability, and independence they need to build a better life.
We invite your group to become a partner with Habitat in working toward our mission. And we consider our partnerships to be just that—partnerships. We want you to be proud of the work we do together.
Group Build Days are a great opportunity for a company or group to involve their employees or members in a positive team-building activity. Your group will work alongside our construction team, and partner families from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm on your build day to help construct/repair Habitat houses. Group Build Days may be scheduled for single or consecutive days.
Group Build Day Fees/Financial Donation
Your group is not required to pay a fee. However, we strongly encourage your group to consider making a financial donation. Group donations are key to allowing Habitat for Humanity of Greater Providence and East Bay to fulfill its mission and cover essential costs. These costs include building day materials & equipment, volunteer supplies such as personal protective equipment and a t-shirt, volunteer coordination, construction site supervision, and administrative costs such as insurance.
Recommended Donation amounts
- High School/College: $40 per volunteer
- Nonprofits: $50 per volunteer
- Faith-Based: $60 per volunteer
- Businesses: $100 per volunteer
Is your group interested in going above and beyond? Check out our business sponsorship opportunities.
Group Build Day Sign Up
Sign up for a Group Build Day by completing the form below.
If you have an issues submitting your information through the form above, please email Mark Kravatz at: [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
Please review the following frequently asked questions. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact: [email protected].
No, we do not require previous construction experience — just a willingness to work hard, learn, and be flexible. But if you do have construction experience (like carpentry, electrical, drywalling, etc.), we encourage you to utilize it on-site with us!
All volunteers must be at least 16 years of age. Youth ages 16 and 17 are not permitted to use power tools or work more than 10 feet off the ground.
We work from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. We ask that volunteers arrive on-site promptly at 8:30 am for our safety orientation. For our projects to be successful, we need volunteers to commit to the entire day.
We build in target neighborhoods throughout the Greater Providence area, including Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls.
It all depends! We appreciate your flexibility and openness to all aspects of building. You’ll find out about the day’s projects once you arrive at the site. What we’re working on depends on the current phase of home construction so that you could be doing anything from demolition to drywall hanging to landscaping. Your flexibility is the most important thing to bring with you to the worksite. Remember that all jobs, no matter how “glamorous,” are equally crucial to a well-build Habitat house!
We ask for a full day’s commitment from volunteers so that we can keep up with our construction schedules and meet project deadlines. Arriving on-site by 8:30 am will ensure that you are included in the day’s plans and receive all the training you need. Late arrivals and early departure make it hard for us to finish the day’s agenda successfully.
We ask that you bring your own water and lunch. You should wear sturdy, closed-toe shoes and clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. We provide all tools and safety equipment (hardhats, safety glasses, earplugs, and dust-masks).
We encourage volunteers to bring their own lunch or money to buy something at a nearby corner-store or restaurant. We take an hour-long lunch break and, if volunteers have left for lunch, we ask that they return on time to begin the afternoon’s project.
We don’t often cancel build days because we can usually work on indoor projects when we need to. However, if extreme weather is forecast or is already here, we may decide to cancel the workday. In the winter, we base our decision on the Providence Public School District’s operating schedule. If schools close or delay, we do the same. In the summer and on Saturdays, Habitat will make a decision as soon as possible on the day before and update all volunteers via email and phone. Regardless of the status of a build day, if you don’t feel comfortable traveling to the site, that’s perfectly fine — just let us know!
We provide an in-depth safety talk at the beginning of your volunteer day. We make sure you have all the training and supervision you need to complete the day’s project safely. All safety gear is provided on-site, and each of our staff members is certified in First Aid and CPR. We want you to be comfortable with the project you’re assigned to; if you’re ever uncomfortable with a task, we’ll find something else for you to work on.
