National Honoree

Justin Churchman, 18, of El Paso, Texas, a senior at Coronado High School, has raised more than $48,000 and recruited more than 75 volunteers to build 18 houses in Juarez, Mexico, despite the rampant drug wars that have frightened away many other American volunteers.When he was 12, Justin's school organized the building of a home in Juarez through an organization called Casas por Cristo. "From El Paso, you look into Juarez and see miles of shacks made of tires, wood pallets and cardboard, housing thousands of poor," said Justin. "When my school built for Casas, it changed my life." For several years, Justin's school continued to take volunteers over the border to build homes, but like many volunteer groups, stopped when the violence escalated. Justin, though, couldn't stop. "I had already learned what it meant to provide shelter to someone who had none, and it became critical to me to continue," he said. So, in 2006 he put together his own team of volunteers to build a three-room house. The biggest obstacle, according to Justin, was convincing adults that a teen could take on such a project. He spent five months planning and raising money. To raise funds, he made speeches and wrote letters, obtaining support from three companies and many individuals. He made lists of materials and supplies the team would need, got international permits for travel, purchased insurance, and handled the paperwork for the 30 volunteers he had recruited. That first year, his team built a house in three days. After that trip, Justin begged Casas to give him more responsibility. They made him a "junior intern," and often call upon him to supervise roof building at its sites in Juarez. Moreover, he has continued to raise money for his own building projects; last year the teams he built with finished six houses, achieving his goal of completing 18 houses by his 18th birthday. "I'm motivated by the look in the grateful father's eyes when I hand him his first set of house keys, and by the mother who told me she'd be warm for the first time in nine years, and by the grown daughter who cried when she saw she had a real door - and that was before we told her it even locked," said Justin.