SantaFe.com

Just imagine – you’ve made it through the work week, maybe gotten ahead on that pile of laundry and pruned your backyard shrubs. So, now you get to reward yourself with a Saturday morning off, right? Maybe a mountain hike, maybe brunch with friends? What if instead you spent those precious Saturday morning hours in the hot sun pounding nails? For someone else? For free? Plenty of Santa Feans do just that and call it volunteering. There are over 600 nonprofits registered with the New Mexico Attorney General and that’s just in Santa Fe. Most of those have few or no paid staff members and rely...

Thursday, May 1, 2008
by AnnMarie McLaughlin • SantaFe.com

Imagine you’re a single parent living in a dark, cramped trailer with not much privacy and no yard, feeling trapped there forever–it’s a struggle just making the rent and feeding everybody, never mind ever putting aside any savings. Now imagine a deus ex machina-like shift where you’re transported into a brand new home, one you own, that you even helped build, a gloriously light-filled house with storage space and views of the mountains, nestled in a small safe cul-de-sac with friendly neighbors on either side.

So far, Santa Fe’s Habitat for Humanity affiliate has performed this miracle 53...

Wednesday, March 1, 2006
by Gail Snyder • localflavor magazine