Have you ever stopped to consider how important your home is to your safety and health? Did you ever think about the connection between the place where you live and your family’s wellbeing? Have you stopped to consider what life might be like if you didn’t have a safe place to come home to, where you feel comfortable putting your children to bed each night?
There are more than 800 million people worldwide who live in inadequate housing in slums. How would their lives change if they were given safe, clean homes in which to live?
Why are homes so important?
For the charity New Story, everything starts with a home. Having a safe, consistent place to live gives people a foundation on which to thrive. Children living in inadequate housing have a much higher rate of death due to unsanitary conditions, and even replacing a dirt floor with concrete significantly reduces the number of parasitic infections they can develop. In addition, children living in slums are less likely to go to school and as a result have fewer opportunities as they age.
New Story believes that when families are given a home with clean water, appropriate sanitation, a concrete floor and a roof, that they are healthier. When their basic needs are met they have more opportunity to focus on income and to send children to school.
What does New Story do?
New Story focuses on transforming slums into communities by building homes. They work from the idea that nobody knows better what they need than those in the community, and their work focuses on the expressed needs of that community. They train local labor and buy local materials to build the homes, stimulating local economies. In their words, they help “families transition out of survival mode” so that they “can begin focusing on their new story.”
New Story is currently supporting relief efforts in Haiti, transforming the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew. More than 60,000 people are without shelter, and they are collecting donations to build durable homes and create sustainable communities in the country.
Who is behind New Story?
New Story is comprised of a small team based in San Francisco. They are aided by a team of advisors who are leaders in the field, including Pete Flint, the founder of Trulia, and David Butler, the VP of Innovation at Coca-Cola.
How can you help?
New Story uses 100% of all donations to hire local workers and buy local materials. A private group of donors fund operations so that all public donations can be used to build homes. Each home costs approximately $6,000 to build. When you donate to New Story, you receive a video of the specific family that you helped, moving into their new home.
Would you like more information?
If you’d like more information about New Story, their team, where they work, who they partner with and how it all helps families in need of safe housing, please visit their website at https://www.newstorycharity.org/
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