The Event is Postponed but the Appreciation is Ongoing!

Each year, we celebrate our volunteers at a special event and recognize one or more with the coveted Volunteer of the Year Award. These are the amazing volunteer nominees for 2020.

Kurt Forbes

Kurt demonstrates an amazing passion and commitment for the organization, and for volunteering in general, immediately jumping in just about every volunteer capacity we offer. While volunteering on a wall-build, Kurt offered to help us with a software implementation that improved our interdepartmental connectivity. Kurt also worked as an Outreach Liaison and office volunteer in Family Services and regularly attended Brush with Kindness projects. Kurt is a great example of a committed volunteer!

Phil Ihrig (Pictured Far Right)

Phil is one of our most mission-driven volunteers. He completed over 650 volunteer hours in 2019 working as a Skilled Supervisor on our Rehabs and new construction projects, as well as supervising wall-building in the warehouse. He has served more than 1,700 hours in total! Phil is consistently one of the first to arrive and the last to leave. He goes above and beyond and is always willing to do undesirable tasks.

Phil is known best by his interaction with volunteers. He is extremely patient and is great at teaching them new skills. We can always count that anyone working alongside Phil is going to have a great experience.

Stephen “Davey” Novotny

Davey was the most consistent construction volunteer in 2019. He volunteers on Brush With Kindness projects, weekday builds and nearly every Saturday on new builds. He also joined Atlanta Habitat on their Global Village Trip to El Salvador in October. He is passionate about our mission and develops positive relationships with everyone on site.

Davey is a vital part of the House Leader’s day, from assisting with tasks to ensuring all volunteers are safe and having fun. Builds are better with Davey around.

Michael Nugent

Mike’s commitment to the Restore began as a personal commitment to volunteer once a month. He soon surpassed that and has been volunteering eight days a month for the past two years. Mike’s dedication crosses all lines and tasks at the Restore and for him there is no task or need too small or too big. Mike has also used his 20 years in corporate-level communication systems to begin streamlining and updating the ReStore’s phone system to create a better experience for customers.

Nobody ever walks away from Mike without a smile on their face. His passion for people and helping is truly inspiring and contagious.

Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan has volunteered as an Intake Counselor with Atlanta Habitat since April of 2014. She has been a consistent member of our Wednesday night volunteer force since she began. Kate has helped us meet with potential homeowners, review their qualifications, pull their credit report, and counsel them on the steps needed to qualify and move forward with home purchase. Her calm demeanor and encouraging tone have been a beacon to families as they work towards purchasing their first home.

Not Pictured

Carl Ware – The Association for Talent Development

The Association for Talent Development has been a very strong partner in our Home Smart program since 2010. This group of training professionals created the Computer Basics and the Computer Lab classes, provided technology partners for each student in every computer class, as well as provided all class instructors. Not only do they develop the class content and provide most of the volunteers, they make sure we always have enough trained instructors. They make our robust computer classes possible and most importantly, they help us narrow the digital divide by giving quality computer use instruction as well as a computer to each qualified homeowner.

Congratulations to our 2020 Volunteer of the Year Nominees! Although right now we’re focused on the health and safety of the Atlanta Habitat community, we look forward to celebrating all of you in the future.