Established in 1988, Habitat for Humanity Waterloo is a non-profit, non-denominational Christian housing organization. Working to break the cycle of poverty, Habitat Waterloo works to bring volunteers and community partners together in order to build simple, decent and affordable homes for low-income families. Focused on providing a 'hand up' not a 'hand out,' Habitat Waterloo partners with families who live in substandard housing, and who are willing to volunteer 500 hours of 'sweat equity' and will repay a zero-down payment, interest-free mortgage over an average of 25 years. One hundred percent of all administrative and fundraising costs are paid for by the operation of Habitat Waterloo and Cambridge's ReStores. Habitat ReStores sell quality new and used donated building materials. Thus, every dollar donated is directly applied to Habitat Waterloo's building program.more...See more text