- April 24, 2024
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“That’s just what I’m good at, getting out there and getting dirty.”
KATHERINE KYLE, Thrivent Financial representative
Katherine Kyle is amazed when she sees a home being built in 30 days when she volunteers with Habitat for Humanity.
Things took much longer when she was growing up. She and her three brothers did all of the repairs on the two houses the family owned, but they were only able to do a project when her mother had saved enough money.
Now, with other Habitat volunteers, she puts a wall up in one day and builds an entire house in three months.
“It shows the power of people when they get together and what they can accomplish,” she said.
The skills she learned as a child are now valuable, including installing sheetrock, laying tile and roofing, but a person does not need that kind of experience to be a volunteer for Habitat, she said.
“That’s just what I’m good at, getting out there and getting dirty,” she said with a laugh.
As a financial associate at Thrivent Financial, Kyle is involved with Habitat for Humanity through the company. Excluding government funding, Thrivent Financial is Habitat's largest single source of funding, constructing and repairing more than 4,000 homes in the U.S. and around the world since 2005.
Kyle is now looking forward to something she has long wanted, a mission trip to a third-world company.
Kyle, who lives in Palm Coast and works in Ormond Beach, will be helping to build a home in Nicaragua, April 2-10, as part of a partnership between Thrivent and Habitat for Humanity International.
She was selected to represent the Florida Georgia Region of Thrivent in a team that will work along with Nicaraguan families because of her sales performance, passion for volunteering and drive to help people be wise with money, according to a press release.
“Katherine Kyle has proven her dedication to serve in our community,” said Scott Morris managing partner of the Florida Georgia region of Thrivent Financial. “This life-changing trip to Nicaragua will only increase her energy for service.”
Kyle said she has wanted to go on a mission trip a third-word country for a long time.
“I went to Jamaica, and the people are so nice and they have nothing,” she said.
The house in Nicaragua will be quite different from the houses built in the U.S. It will be a simple concrete block structure with a metal roof. But Kyle said it will be appreciated, because the people there live on $2 per day.
She plans to see how things work on this trip to Nicaragua, and hopes to lead her own mission trip in the future.
Thrivent is a nonprofit company and supports many charitable organizations and outreach programs. Visit ThriventBuilds.com.
