If I Were a Carpenter

Twenty Years of Habitat for Humanity

By Frye Gaillard
John F. Blair, $24.95

ISBN 0895871483

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Review by Shannon Cunningham

It's one of the most successful stories in American philanthropic history-Habitat for Humanity. Serving as an ecumenical housing ministry to eliminate poverty housing throughout the world, Habitat is predicted to become the largest homebuilder by the end of the century. In If I Were a Carpenter: Twenty Years of Habitat for Humanity, veteran journalist Frye Gaillard traces the many struggles and great successes since the birth of this organization.

Since 1965, Habitat has built 40,000 homes, housing over 250,000 people by the end of 1995. Although Habitat saw many ups and downs, certain things were never compromised. Their Christian focus was one of those things along with "no-interest loans, the maximum use of volunteer labor, a basic independence from all levels of government, and a sense of respect for the people they served."

Gaillard is an outside observer, an investigator who tells the entire Habitat story with a compassionate but clear eye.

--Shannon Cunningham

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