When I was offered a job as the Public Relations Manager for Colville’s Habitat for Humanity I found myself excited but also somewhat cautious.

 I felt excitement because it was the first job I have had outside of coaching youth sports that didn’t require me to have an aggressive and suspicious disposition towards everyone I met as my two previous jobs (the Marine Corps and a Correctional Sgt in California’s Max Security Prisons) had. It also offered me an opportunity in my mind to atone for what I felt was a life of violence, no matter how justified in the eyes of the law it was, and do what I really always wanted to do, help people.

Admittedly, I also felt a slight amount of skepticism and caution. I am an ardent proponent of individual effort and not relying on others. I, like many people, sometimes grow tired of what seems to be a growing ideology of entitlement and “hand outs”. I am not opposed to people getting help, but I am suspicious of people who always seem to ask for it while putting forth very little of their own effort and of “charities” that sometimes appear to exist only to profit from it.

In my short time with Habitat for Humanity I have come to see that it’s not a “charity” that exists to pick people up and carry them; it’s not just another second hand store downtown and it’s not just another church that will trade you some help for a sermon. Instead it’s a group of dedicated individuals, many of whom are volunteers, who believe that everyone deserves a fair shot and exists to help someone get back up, so they can help themselves.

In short, a hand-up not a hand-out.

Nothing could drive that point home more than what I saw and learned on just my second full day of work at Habitat than that of the story of Cliff and Andrea Martin.

Cliff and Andrea met in 2010 and were married 6^th months later. Just prior to them meeting Cliff lost his home in a house fire which led to the couple renting what were at best subpar, run down places. 

As many of us do, they lived paycheck to paycheck and felt as if they were drowning in a sea of medical bills that they couldn’t, despite their best efforts, navigate their way out from under. It’s not that they didn’t want to, but rather, they simply didn’t know where to start with snowballing bills. Month after month, they tried to pay off bills all the while paying for housing that was substandard and that would never be their own.

In the Spring of 2014 they saw an article in the Statesman Examiner about Habitat for Humanity’s (Colville Valley Partners) Victory Park housing development in Colville and decided to look into it. They understood that Habitat said it helped facilitate people getting their own affordable homes, but they didn’t have any idea how it worked or if it was even a legitimate program.

Upon filling out the application to become a Habitat for Humanity Partner Family they were informed that to qualify, or even be considered, they would have to not only meet a long list of requirements to make them eligible, but they would also have to change their financial and debt situation before they would ever even be considered for approval. There was nothing “free” about this endeavor, if they wanted it, Habitat stood ready to help them, but they would have to prove they wanted it, by doing a lot of things to help themselves first.

And that’s just what they did.

Cliff and Andrea started working with a representative from Rural Resources, a Habitat Family Selection Partner, who mentored and facilitated them attending classes to start chipping away at their mountain of medical bills as well as becoming proficient at budgeting. 

To this day, the couple credits that process with their now very stringent yet satisfying ability to not only pay their bills, but to even put some money in savings.

In the midst of this, Cliff was diagnosed with Cancer.  All of a sudden, their hopes and dreams for a home and a family and a chance at debt free living was not only threatened by even more medical bills, traveling to Spokane for treatment and the added stressor of not feeling well, it became a fight for survival, literally.

At this point most would expect, and understandably so, that their focus on owning a home and meeting Habitats requirements would take a back seat to simply beating cancer. But it didn’t; in fact, it only drove them harder towards their goal and closer to each other.

They chose to face this new battle head on. To approach it and fight with a positive attitude and simply add beating cancer to the multiple steps they needed to take to reach their goal.

Cliff would pack a suitcase for his trips to Spokane. One side would be clothing; the other side would be food, carefully accounted for and budgeted by his ever supportive and astute wife Andrea. He would travel down, receive treatment, come home and get back to work on budgeting, paying bills, and volunteering for other Habitat partner families who had already been approved for their homes. There budget was stretched further, they accumulated some more bills and they buckled down even more to pay them off. And they weren’t even approved for the home yet.
But, they refused to quit, no matter what.

A Hand Up.......Not a Hand Out. 

Cliff and Andrea’s bumpy road came to a joyful intersection one day in October of 2016, two years after they had decided to change the direction of their life. 

On that day, a day they were volunteering at the dedication ceremony for another family who was receiving their home, Habitat representitives, approached the unsuspecting couple and told them, it was time, and they too had been approved for their own home. 

To this day, asking Cliff and Andrea and even the Habitat Staff involved invokes emotion not unlike the tears that were shed when they first found out. 

They had done it.  They faced what seemed to be insurmountable debt, gotten past the pride of having to objectively listen to what other people told them they were doing wrong and how to do it better and of course, faced and to date beat, cancer. 

When asked what stood out to him about the Martins, Jerry Gentry (who acted as the Martins Family Partner who helps keep track of the Martins required volunteer hours, finances and progress through the selection process) didn’t hesitate to say; “ Perseverance, their ability to stick with it and willingness to do as much as possible despite their trials.” That opinion of them goes uncontested amongst anyone you talk to who has been involved with their journey. 

The Martins still have to meet a new set of requirements set for by Habitat as the process of their house being built is almost complete. Also, like every other home owner, they will have to pay a mortgage, they have to pay utilities, they have to pay taxes and they have to volunteer in the future to help families like themselves coming up through the process. And they couldn’t be happier to do all of it. 

They credit Habitat for Humanity, the host of volunteers and donations that keeps Habitat able to do what it does for helping them learn to “have a little faith in themselves” and one would expect them to. But I credit them for convincing me that I finally found a job where I can help people and make sure its people who want to help themselves. As much as they have reached their goal, they have helped me realize mine. 

They hope to have a family now, continue volunteering and help others realize their own potential as they have theirs.  Sitting with them Cliff doesn’t miss a chance to credit Andrea with being the brains of the operation and Andrea doesn’t miss a chance to tell Cliff she loves him.  It’s hard to not pick up on their excitement, it’s hard to not feel their optimism, it’s even harder to feel sorry for yourself knowing what they have endured. 


I can’t tell you their future, no one can. But I can say that if they approach their future with even half the fortitude, positivity and motivation they have approached their past, their relationship, home and example could be a blueprint for others who think they are down, but just need to get back up, each time they fall. 

Ian Pickett
Public Relations Manager                                Habitat for Humanity (Colville Valley Partners)