Special thanks to the photography team at Freedom Light Productions for capturing these sights & scenes during our state conference!
2025 Conference Presentations
2025 AAHA Award Winners
Conference Speaker Tom Gerdy
Building contractor, writer, speaker, and community activist.
First and foremost, Tom is a husband of 49 years, a father of 4, and a grandfather of 9. He has a degree in marketing but was worried that might mean wearing a shirt and tie. Tom had been swinging a hammer while in college and that didn’t require a tie so he stuck with it. That led to him starting Gerdy Construction Company, which he has been running for over 44 years. Tom does some writing and has contributed over 90 pieces to Huffington Post and Medium. He refers to his ramblings as Blue Collar Observations In A White Collar World. He has been volunteering with Habitat since 1989 and was HFH National Volunteer of the year in 2002. Tom speaks around the country about reaching out and making a difference. His mantra as well as the title of his presentation is “Aspire To Inspire Before You Expire.”
Tom will also lead a course during our conference: Stirring the Volunteer Pot & the ABCs of Blitz Building
"Are you in a groove or is it really just a rut? Sometimes when things seem to be going alright, we become complacent. It isn’t long before we are actually sliding backwards and losing enthusiasm. Then before we know what hit us, the proverbial volunteer pipeline is not filling up. Volunteer recruitment and retention seems to be a challenge at every affiliate. That being said, we have to take a good look at stirring the volunteer pot a bit. In this session we will discuss ways to find new, retain existing, and keep volunteers excited. We will talk in detail about “how to” as well as why blitz building makes sense."
