Volunteer Builders Get VISTA Help

Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County has gotten a second full-time helping hand.

Josh Levine, a VISTA volunteer, will work for the year as a staff member of the charitable group that builds affordable houses for low-income families with donated materials and volunteer labor.

Levine, 24, formerly of Washington, D.C., joins Mary Beth Ventura as this year’s second worker from the Volunteers in Service to America program. Ventura has been working in the Habitat office since August.

The VISTA volunteers are supported by the federal government through the Corporation for National Service.

“I receive a living allowance which is determined by the economic status of the people we serve, which is usually very low income,” Levine said. Habitat of Ventura provides a trailer for each of the two volunteers to live in.

Levine earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental education from Leslie College in Massachusetts and has also studied at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming, the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute in Maine, and most recently volunteered on a kibbutz in Israel for six months.

“I really believe in teaching by example,” he said of his interest in volunteerism, “and believe in a theory that’s called servant leadership. You lead best when you’re serving the people.”

His job at Habitat will involve fund-raising and managing scattered resources. “I’m trying to create a system to manage the equipment and the materials and the tools that we have,” Levine said.

These resources are located throughout the county with the different Habitat volunteers and donors.

“Sometimes it’s just in people’s garages,” said Habitat office manager Beverly Powell. “We hope to build seven to 10 new homes this year. Josh’s work would really streamline that process.”

She said this is the second year VISTA volunteers have been assigned to the program. The VISTA program provides needed staff members. Habitat’s budget can pay only for Powell and the group’s executive director, Ken Pyburn.