Rhonda Stockton didn’t have her own place until last year. She and her five children were often separated as the St. Joseph mother struggled to provide for her family. But that’s before her dream of a white picket fence came true.

After working on the project herself, Ms. Stockton moved into her dream house, built through the Habitat for Humanity program.

The organization is hosting fundraisers this week to collect funds, recruit volunteers and engage the community.

“We want to enlighten people on how we change lives and build hope,” said Dawn Gallegos, executive director for Habitat.

The group met Monday at the Bond Science and Technology Incubator and the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce as part of its campaign to bring awareness to its cause.

“It’s an extremely worthwhile project,” said Dr. Gary Clapp, who runs the business incubator at Missouri Western State University and is president of the Institute for Industrial and Applied Life Sciences. “Habitat can’t survive without community participation.”

Clive Rainey, director of community relations for Habitat, said it takes about 2,000 volunteers to build an average home. The homeowners themselves help with its construction.

The bigger picture is that donations for local homes have helped build at least 20 homes internationally. There are about 360,000 homes built around the world, Mr. Rainey said. That’s roughly 175 families a day that are impacted.

Ms. Stockton said the miracles haven’t stopped since moving into her new home last year. She has gone on to purchase the neighboring lot for even more improvements to her home and neighborhood.

Since 1995, the organization has helped build 40 homes in St. Joseph. “We want to move beyond current production levels,” Mr. Rainey said.

Habitat for Humanity is looking to rehab older homes as well as reopen its ReStore. The ReStore closed in December but officials said things are looking up for the Downtown store to be back in business.

“Everything in the store is recycled back into the program,” Ms. Gallegos said.

Habitat sold donated new and used construction materials through the store to help its core work of building affordable homes in St. Joseph.

For more information about donations or volunteering, contact the organization at 364-5733.

Jennifer Hall can be reached at jennhall@npgco.com.