Joni Johnston finds an organization she can get behind

Joni Johnston has lived in Fairfield nearly all her life save for her very first year. Her parents moved from the Ottumwa area to Fairfield just after her first birthday.

'I loved growing up in this community and could not have imagined raising my two children anywhere else,” she said.

The thought of volunteering became more attractive to Johnston later in life once her children were grown and she was no longer having to travel for work. When she retired a year ago, it gave her even more time to dedicate her efforts volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

One experience Johnston had that inspired her to become a volunteer now occurred 15 years ago in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She was in New Orleans a few months after the hurricane hit, and was astounded by the amount of destruction still evident in the city.

'The plane coming back home was filled with people who had been there to help - some like me to do their job, but many others were volunteers,” she said. 'As I listened to their stories, I thought it was so awesome that these people would take time from their own lives and families to help. Some had even been there for weeks and were going home for a break before heading back! That type of situation was not an option for me but I finally found my fit with Habitat for Humanity.”

When Johnston became serious about volunteering in the community, she was working at Brown Law Office in Fairfield. Mike Brown had been offering free legal services to Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity for many years, along with his wife, Kathy Brown, having volunteered her construction expertise.

Through them, and several other volunteers who would pop into the office to make copies, retrieve information from the files, or ask questions, Johnston learned about Habitat and was later asked to join the board of directors.

'Providing an avenue to affordable housing for those who may not qualify for a traditional mortgage is something I can really get behind,” she said. 'Many are first-time homeowners, sometimes even the first in their family to own a home.”

Johnston joined Habitat's board of directors six years ago and has been active ever since, serving on several different committees. Most recently, she volunteered to take on some of the duties of the executive director. The organization has undergone major and positive changes in recent years. Johnston said a 'turning point” was purchasing the property on West Burlington Avenue on the outskirts of Fairfield that would become the group's ReStore, a retail outlet selling donated furniture, home fixtures and other supplies. Funds from the store go toward purchasing materials for Habitat's homes.

'We had more selling space, easier access and better visibility, which meant more money to build homes,” Johnston said of moving the ReStore to West Burlington Avenue.

Another major change occurred a few years ago when Habitat partnered with the Fairfield Community School District so that its high schoolers could get academic credit for helping to build a Habitat home. FHS's Construction Trades class has helped build the last four homes.

'This has allowed us to go from building a home every other year to one home per year,” Johnston said. 'It also gives the students an opportunity to learn skills that often turn into jobs for them.”

Johnston said her favorite part of volunteering for Habitat is the opportunity to work with the homebuyers and see their excitement and sense of accomplishment as their home nears completion. The knowledge that they are about to become homeowners feels more and more real. At the same time, Habitat has its own set of challenges, such as complying with regulations in the housing industry and regulations governing lenders.

'It's a lot to learn and stay abreast with the changes,” Johnston said.