Clive Rainey at Mid Day Rotary

Clive Rainey, the first volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, is visiting Gig Harbor from Atlanta and will be speaking at the Rotary Club of Gig Harbor Mid Day at noon on Tuesday. 

Clive Rainey joined Habitat for Humanity International on April 1, 1977, soon after the organization was formed, as its first volunteer. One of his early duties was serving as chair of the family selection committee for the house-building program of Koinonia, Africa, a rural Christian community where the idea of building homes in partnership with the poor was conceived. It was Rainey who brought the concept of “Sweat Equity” to Koinonia—and ultimately Habitat – after learning that developers of middle-class housing sometimes used a family’s unskilled labor on their house in lieu of a down payment. Today “Sweat Equity” is a key part of every Habitat build in 80 countries worldwide.

During his 33 years of service with Habitat, Rainey has travelled the world and has challenged Habitat affiliates to serve as leaders in their own communities in the effort to eliminate substandard housing. He has urged affiliates to plan for and work towards significant increases in their own housing production and to create collaborative partnerships with other housing providers, local governments, civic groups, churches and other organizations and individuals in order to meet Habitat’s goal of eliminating substandard housing worldwide. Through his work, Clive Rainey helped to make Habitat for Humanity one of the most recognized brands in the world.

For a video about Mr. Rainey, see this link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwJ7uzv6chw