A Crisis is a Terrible Thing  - to Waste! 

 

I am a silver-lining kind of person.  When something difficult or bad happens, I always try to look at the positive side of things. At Habitat, as with the rest of the country, we find ourselves in a slowing down period - less donations mean less to do on our projects and less to offer in terms of volunteer opportunities.  Rather than sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for the economy to turn around, our team has been using this time productively making plans for the future. 

 

In January and February, our board met for a series of strategic planning sessions to take an honest look at our strengths and our weaknesses.  Out of these planning sessions has come some wonderful recommendations about building schedules, material acquisition, fundraising, volunteer management and staff supervision. 

 

Two plans in the works are very exciting for the future of Habitat.  One is creation and opening of a ReStore.  You may have seen us mention our Restore Garage Sales over the past several months in this newsletter.  While we are in this slow time, we are working very hard to find our ReStore a permanent home.  By having a ReStore retail operation open several days per week we will be able to sell gently used and surplus building supplies, appliances and other houseshold goods to the general public for a fraction of their worth.  This way, our Habitat can help support our own home construction, as well as help the environment, provide additional volunteer and job training opportunities (especially for those under 18).  Right now, we have identified a space that we hope will be its home in a few months.  We will keep our readers posted on its progress this year. 

 

The other plan that gives us the energy and hope to carry on our mission is our recent alignment with several synagogues and churches on the eastern side of the county.  In this issue, we will share this story and other exciting plans for our affitiliate. 

 

So indeed, we are not "wasting" this crisis, but instead planning for better days ahead.

 

Brenda Egolf-Fox

Executive Director

  

What happens when caring people have a casual conversation about Habitat around a book group?  The idea of building a home together is born!  That's exactly what happened when a member of our board met with her monthly book club last year. 

 

Last fall, Habitat was invited to Beth Or Congregation in Maple Glen to share some information about the homes we are building on Linden Avenue. At the time, we were working on a set of twins and coordinating construction of 203 Linden Avenue with the Episcopal Unity Build, but had not broken ground as of yet. 

 

After some lengthy conversation and wonderful questions about how a group might come together to build a home, an idea was born.  Beth Or reached out to other members of the Wissahickon Faith Community to see if there might be interest in coming together to build the fourth home in the Linden Avenue project.  Many of these congregations realized that they did not have the resources to sponsor a home (at $90,000) by themselves, but collectively they had the power to make a difference in the life of a family and in the community.   

 

The response to Beth Or's request proved to be overwhelming and at last count, 16 churches and synagogues have decided to partner together to build a home for Sherry Rivers and her family. 

 

Congregations involved in the project include:

 

Ambler Mennonite Church, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Boehm's United Church of Christ, Congregation Beth Or, Jarrettown United Methodist Church, the Jewish Federation of Bucks-Mont, Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation, St. Alphonsus Church, St. Anthony of Padua Church, St. John's Lutheran - Ambler, St. Matthew's Episcopal, Temple Sinai, Tiferet Bet Israel, Trinity Lutheran Church, Upper Dublin Lutheran Church and the Wissahickon Faith Community.

 

A few weeks ago, we had our first meeting of the project leaders of each congregation and they have chosen to name the group Faith Builders. 

 

 

Rosenfeld Social Hall at Congregation Beth Or.
Children can meet their favorite character and enjoy at pancake breakfast. 

There will be face painting, autographs and tattoos!
Cost is $10/person over 2 yrs old or $25/ family. 

All proceeds will go to Faith Builders-Habitat for Humanity project. 

 

In addition

A Community Fundraising Event
with all donations benefiting
Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County
 
Date:  Saturday April 4
Time:  7 PM
Place:  Bethlehem Baptist Church, Penllyn Pike & Dager Road
 
Appearing are nationally acclaimed singers, songwriters, storytellers, educators Kim & Reggie Harris with performer, spiritual leader Rabbi Jonathan Kliger
 
A Jewish & African American Celebration of Freedom

 

 

Directions 

 

In her place, we have hired long-time volunteer and advocate, Linley Kirkwood.  Currently, Linley is a senior at Villanova University and co-president of their 1200 member Habitat club.  Linley brings with her a wealth of knowledge about Habitat both locally and around the world.  Until she graduates this Spring, Linley will be with us on a part-time basis, but will hit the ground running this summer.   Linley can be reached at linley@habitatmontco.org.  Drop her a line to say hello!

 

 

Site Supervisor Rob Ripley has been promoted to Construction Manager.  Rob will be handling the day-to-day operations at the Pottstown, Linden Avenue and Cherry Street projects.  Paul Ricker will continue on with Habitat, as a part-time Project Planner.