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Jul 16, 2018

Expanding Our Consulting Tool Belt With Habitat for Humanity

Lauren Barnard

Lauren Barnard

Expanding Our Consulting Tool Belt With Habitat for Humanity

At Credera, we strive to impact our community every day through the work we do in consulting. One of the most tangible examples of meaningful impact in Dallas can be illustrated through the home we built last summer with Habitat for Humanity.

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I had the unique opportunity to be part of nearly the entire process—from being on the first build team and another build team in the middle of the project to attending the house dedication ceremony at Habitat’s offices. It was a powerful process to see how Habitat for Humanity is empowering communities through build teams and homeownership for families.

Day One

When we showed up at the build site the first morning, our team was staring down a blank slab of concrete. I looked around at my fellow technology consultants and thought, “They really expect us to actually build this house from the ground up?” But after only a few hours of work, we had completely studded in the entire frame of the house. Talk about an empowering experience to see what we were able to accomplish in only a few hours with a lot of sweat, hammering, and teamwork. Oh, and did I mention with the power saw? Yes, this girl got well acquainted with the adrenaline rush of powering through a block of wood with the sheer force of a spinning saw blade.

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One of the coolest parts about that day was that the family we were building the house for was working alongside us. I loved hearing their story of how they were working toward homeownership and getting to see the smiles as they saw their house being built right before their eyes. The gratitude that shined on their faces is not something I will soon forget.

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Halfway Through

When I arrived at the build site for the second time that summer, I was completely amazed by the progress. Surely a group of office dwellers hadn’t accomplished all of this—but we had! Thanks to the guidance of the wonderful regular volunteers of Habitat for Humanity, Credera’s consultants left each build day with a new set of skills in their professional toolbox.

My second build had me on top of a 10-foot ladder hammering insulation onto the side of the house. Let’s just say hammering will not be added to my resume anytime soon, but the Habitat volunteers were very encouraging and I definitely saw improvement as the day went on.

Another one of my favorite parts of the build days was working with so many of my Credera colleagues. Since we work in project teams, it is easy to only see the same five to 10 people every day. Working on the build site provided me the opportunity to get to know people from several different practices at Credera. It was cool to see every level of Credera, from our executives to our consultants and corporate staff, serving alongside each other with one common goal.

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The Dedication Ceremony

Though I may never get over my obsession with using a power saw, my favorite part of volunteering with Habitat for Humanity was the dedication ceremony. To see the fruits of our labor be reaped by a family receiving the keys to their new home was life-changing. We listened to the journey they took to homeownership and all the ways this home was going to change their lives. I will forever be a champion of the work Habitat for Humanity is doing in our community, and I am thankful to work at a place that cares about partnering with organizations to build a stronger community together.

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If you would like more information about the work we did with Habitat to Humanity check out this video.

MY CREDERA

Culture is something that is experienced in a variety of different ways. We’re sharing the many ways Crederians experience our culture in a series called My Credera. The heart behind this series is for our company, employees, clients, and friends to have an inside look at the Credera culture by reading about our employees’ “My Credera” moments. In this series, we are talking about our core values, personal and professional growth, mentorship, community involvement, favorite Credera memories, life after college, and what it looks like to create a career at Credera.

At Credera, we love to celebrate every achievement, milestone, and moments of growth. We are excited to open up and invite you in to experience those celebrations with us. If you’d like to learn more about joining the Credera family, we invite you to visit our careers page.

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