It is not hyperbole to say that from the humble origins of St. Croix Valley Habitat for Humanity in the mid '90s to the halcyon days of the Eco Village, our virtuous and laudable work could not be achieved without the dedication and resoluteness of our regular volunteers. Their commitment to Habitat all began the same way, with days. Days of labor, days of toil, days of building, days of progress. Days turn to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. And just as the unassuming flow of water can create immensities such as the Grand Canyon, and the accumulation of mere basket loads of soil and clay can create the colossal earthen mounds of Cahokia, so to has the incremental passage of time given rise to dazzling feats from our stalwart regular volunteers. Over these years of labor, SCV-Habitat has constructed 60 homes. Heady stuff for our lionhearted little affiliate, but could this remarkable feat have been accomplished without the steady and knowing hand of our regular volunteers? Assuredly not. 

We at SCV-Habitat value and honor every one of our noble-spirited volunteers - from deep-pocketed corporate partners to humble do-gooders - the combined efforts of all are indispensable to the resounding success of our affiliate. But let us take a moment now to commemorate the efforts of those dedicated few who return week after week to ensure that families and individuals in need have access to decent, safe, affordable, and sustainable housing. In the words of Bill Shakespeare, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..."        

October was a particularly eventful month for our regular volunteers. During the annual Habitat for Humanity State Support Organization conference Roger Pavlis and John Hackbarth were recognized as our affiliate's volunteers of the year for construction and ReStore, respectively. Also, earlier in the month Joe Greatens, our newest board member and a dauntless regular himself, organized a phenomenal booyah dinner at the Eco Village (and manned the booyah kettle himself, see photos below) in recognition of the regulars.     

So to the regular volunteers, on behalf of everyone at SCV-Habitat I would like to extend our deepest and most humble gratitude for the truly exceptional work that you do.

To cap this piece off I wanted to end with a sufficiently grandiose quote to dedicate to our regular volunteers, and as fate would have it I have recently been made privy to such a quote:*    
 

"Labor, I say, is man's great function...He is nothing, he can be nothing, he can achieve nothing, fulfill nothing, without working. Not only can he gain no lofty improvement without this; but without it he can gain no tolerable happiness.What is there glorious in the world, that is not the product of labor, either of the body or of the mind? What is history, but its record? What are the treasures of genius and art, but its work? What are cultivated fields, but its toil? The busy marts, the rising cities, the enriched empires of the world; what are they but the great treasure-houses of labor? The pyramids of Egypt, the castles and towers and temples of Europe, the buried cities of Mexico; what are they but tracks, all round the world, of the mighty footsteps of labor? Antiquity had not been without it. Without it, there were no memory of the past; without it, there were no hope for the future."