Calendar
 
Saturday, October 5th
Wall Raising
55 Glenwood Avenue, Falmouth
8:30am
 
 Saturday, October 5th
Sea Captain's Fair
First Parish Brewster
1969 Rt. 6A, Brewster
9am-3pm
With proceeds to benefit Habitat

 

Thursday, October 10, 2013
"Tiaras and Toolbelts"
25th Anniversay Gala
New Seabury Country Club, Mashpee
5:30 Cocktails
6:00 Dinner and Program
More information here.
SOLD OUT!
  
  Saturday, November 2nd
Holiday Fair
Brewster Baptist Church
1848 Main Street, Brewster
9am-3pm
With proceeds to benefit Habitat
  
Saturday, October 26th
Benefit Coffeehouse featuring Martin Grosswendt & Friends
  New Settings of American Roots Tickets: $10
18 and under: $5
  Falmouth Jewish Congregation's Seifer Community Center
7 Hatchville Road, Falmouth
7-9pm
To benefit:
Falmouth Builds Together / Habitat for Humanity
Info: 508-540-0602
   
 
News In Brief
  
   
 Team Habitat Raises Nearly $10,000 for Women Build!
Many congratulations to our intrepid riders - the very first Team Habitat in the Last Gasp! We were also thrilled to be allied with Cape Cod Young Professionals this year. This was such a successful experience that we are already planning next year's team. We look forward to next year's ride!
  
 
The Centerville-Osterville-Marstons Mills Fire Department - 
a Great Roofing Team
The COMM Fire Department contacted us last year to donate roofing services on our Centerville Build when we were ready. It was a generous offer to give back to the community - from the very same firefighters who had seen the house that once stood on the spot burn down. They promised that they knew what they were doing and they weren't kidding - they had completed the entire job by lunch time! Thanks so much to a great crew - we look forward to working with them again.
  
TeamBuilds Galore!
We love seeing teams come to the job sites. Here are some teams that worked with us this summer and early fall.
   
Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Falmouth
  
Eastern Bank
  
 
National Grid
Bank of America
  
 
Mashpee Girls Soccer Team
  
First Church Sandwich
  
  
Construction Update 

Mashpee
This home is on schedule and is now tight-to-the-weather and closed to volunteers while we await sub-contractor work. We will also complete some punch list items during this time. 
  
Centerville
Work is coming along nicely and we are now at the sidewall shingling stage. This home will be tight-to-the-weather by the middle of the month, and will also close to volunteers during the sub-contractor stage. 
 
Orleans
8 Bevan Way - the Blitz Build home - is complete and the Richards family has moved in. Foundation work continues on house numbers 2, 4, and 6 - with work to start on house number 9 soon. We expect to raise walls on two homes in November, and two more in the spring. 
 
Falmouth
Gable walls have been framed and are ready to raise this Saturday, October 5th. We will then frame and raise more walls and start work three days per week on this duplex.  
 
 

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Thanks to Joanne Broderick for many of these photos
Greetings!
Busy days at Habitat! We've seen walls raised in Mashpee this June and July, in Centerville this August, in Orleans in September with a Blitz Build, and now in Falmouth this October - on Saturday. And more wall raisings are coming in Orleans in November. We rejoice with all our family partners as those homes come together, bit by bit.
Falmouth Wall Raising   

 

Ginger Lane 

Saturday, October 5th

8:30am

55 Glenwood Avenue, Falmouth

  
Come CELEBRATE as we raise the walls on two new homes in Falmouth. In a departure from our recent pattern, we will raise these walls first thing in the morning, at 8:30, and then celebrate with breakfast foods before the crew goes on to continue working for the day.
 
More information, including driving directions, here.
Be sure to arrive early to park at town hall - there is no parking on Glenwood Avenue.
 
What's all this Fuss about a Blitz?  
Blessing 8 Bevan Way, Orleans - aka "The Blitz House"
It seems like everywhere we looked during the week of September 23rd, there was news about Blitz Build 2013, the house-in-a-week project sponsored by the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod (HBRACC), in collaboration with Habitat.
  
Building an entire house in five days is quite an accomplishment, but Habitat has done it before. In 1996, Habitat volunteers built a home for the Robinson family in Yarmouth in a single week - and in the pouring rain! In addition, we had a two-week blitz that jump-started a Women Build in Brewster in 2008.
  
Michael and Heidi Richards, and family
What made this blitz different was the Homebuilders Association, who were determined to fully sponsor the home, and proceeded to deliver on their promise to do so by garnering donations of materials  and professional crews for every aspect of the build, and organizing fundraisers to pay for any remaining costs. That is one house, out of the ten we are starting this year, built with no construction costs to Habitat, and that means we can serve one more family than we might otherwise have been able to serve. 
 
For HBRACC, the Blitz Build was a chance to shine a light on the important need for workforce housing on Cape Cod. Christine Duren, HBRACC's executive officer, states "Yes, we do have an affordability problem here, and building a safe, decent, affordable home in a week demonstrates our members' commitment to meeting all housing needs at every income level."
 
The Blitz build was accomplished by creating a tightly coordinated schedule of professional tradespeople, either volunteering as individuals or working as crews contributed by their company. In some instances, one company completed an entire phase or sub-phase of construction, such as framing. In other instances, such as landscaping, crews and individuals from several companies worked together. In several instances, such as two of the on-site project managers, professionals used up to a week's vacation time to dedicate themselves to the blitz. Although the home went from foundation to move-in over the course of a single week, the planning stage to accomplish this took eight months. Kudos to the hardworking Homebuilders Planning Team, and to all the on-site project managers, who handled every bump with grace and good humor.  
 
For those who worked at, or visited, the build site last week, the energy of the crews and the pace of the build were evident - and expected. But what people were not prepared to find was the intense spirit of friendly cooperation and joy that surrounded the site. Contractors who, outside of the Blitz Build, would be competitors were working side-by-side in a 1,200 square-foot space, and laughing with one another. Crews, companies, and organizations often remarked that they had heard of each other many times, but never before had the opportunity to meet. Once again, we saw our mission put into action: building homes, hope, lives, and community on Cape Cod.
 
Our thanks to all those who made this home possible.
 
Check out photos from the Blitz Build on our website or Facebook page, or see a slide show here.
 
 
Friday Evening
Monday Morning
Certificate of Occupancy
Sturgis High School Team Day
Story by Dave Kaczmarczyk
(Centerville Guest House Leader for a day)
  
On Sat, Sept 21, a group of more than 12 students from both East and West Sturgis High School, accompanied by teachers Jennifer Walts and Joel Tallman, descended on the Ginger Lane build site to start applying cedar shingles to the house. Getting a group of students to a build has been a couple of years in the making, but thanks to the efforts of Eric Hieser (Executive Director of Sturgis, Principals Peter Steedman and Paul Marble, and teacher Jen Walts (a Habitat volunteer) - it happened. We had a few more students than expected but that was handled without a problem. Thanks to Dawn Walnut (Habitat's Volunteer Services Manager) and Desmond MacMahon (Habitat's Lead Carpenter & House Leader) for going with the roller coaster on this one. Desmond spent Friday getting things ready for the day, Dawn organized crew leaders who worked well with the kids, and Wendy Cullinan (Habitat's Development Director) showed up at lunch with water bottles for the crew.
 
Things started a little slow, it was obvious most had never swung a hammer nor applied shingles to a house.  At first, some needed to use two hands on a hammer and take 30 to 40 hits to get a nail in, only to have it bend on the last hit! Our Habitat crew leaders took their time explaining how and why the shingles needed to be applied and by the morning break, the teams were pretty much on their own. By the end of the day, we had hit the target of 25% of the house shingled, the group knew how to hammer and snap chalk lines, how to use a utility knife and a block plane, and most importantly, know when something wasn't quite right and to ask for help.
 
The proof of the day was that as far as I know, there were no cuts or injuries to the Sturgis team, the rows of shingles were straight, shingle seams were where they should be, other jobs were done and the site left clean (Bob Ryley, Habitat's Director of Construction, was impressed by that). And I didn't hear anyone complain about being asked to do something as trivial as moving lumber. The attitude for everything we asked was "sure, no problem".
 
Throughout the day, ALL of the Habitat crew leaders commented on how the students took the work seriously but seemed to enjoy it, were able to act as a team and get courses of shingles properly applied, and do anything that was asked of them. One of the most experienced crew leaders said that beyond the work, what really impressed him with these students was that they were not pre-occupied with cell phone calls and text messaging!!
 
In, summary, I'd rate this as a very successful day and want to thank all of the people involved for a great day, especially Jen Walts, Eric Heiser, and Dawn Walnut for making this happen. One final comment - Kelly Moorehead (the homeowner) has a senior at Sturgis East and was very moved that these students gave up their Saturday to help build the house. I think that pretty much says it all.
 
I look forward to future help from the Sturgis family.  
Editor's note: Many of the crew leaders on the site that day have since commented that the Sturgis team was one of the best they have worked with. Now, that's a challenge for our Team Day participants! Way to go, Sturgis!
Volunteer Spotlight

 

This August, Phil Mitchell was the recipient of Habitat's Everett Stoyle Spirit of Service Award. Below we re-print some thoughts from Sue Baker - excerpts from her presentation speech to Phil at Habitat's Annual Meeting.

 

The Ev Stole Spirit of Service award was named after the late Everett Stoyle to honor one volunteer each year who, in their voluntary work for Habitat for Humanity, exemplifies love of neighbor, true kindness and dedicated humble service. For many years now, Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod has been honored and raised up by the leadership and the careful day to day work of the Rev. Phil Mitchell. So today, we are pleased to honor Phil with our Spirit of Service Award.

 

Phil has touched the lives of those of our Habitat for Humanity community, as well as those in the Cape Cod community and other areas where he has served as pastor in his gentle way that is ever-memorable, and often transforming. As chair of our Faith Relations Committee for some ten years, the engagement in our work by the Cape Cod faith community has ever-deepened and spread.

 

In the last 25 years, Board member Rev. John Terry has twice served as pastor of a church where Phil served before him. John says that he has never known a more beloved pastor, and beloved for good reason. John mentioned to us a story told about Phil of a time that he  learned on a Sunday morning about one of the members of the church having a stroke. Phil handed his sermon notes to the student pastor, said the student was to preach his sermon while Phil went off to help the family having this medical crisis. When it was time for the sermon the student got up to preach and after a couple of minutes gave up. He could not read Phil's handwriting. Since then Phil has typed them out. Rev. Terry agreed to serve on the Board of Directors of Cape Cod Habitat for just one reason - Phil asked him. In John's  words - "He has done so much for so many, who can say "no" to Phil."

 

Our Chair of Family Partnership, Dave King says he has been privileged to call Phil his close friend these past 10 years. Dave told us "To know him is to love him!! His love and warmth is immediately felt by all who know him.  His caring spirit for others is evident in his every word and action. His strong spirit of service to Habitat grows from a remarkable past and outreach to his church and community as well as Habitat. His quiet leadership on the BOD and the Faith Relations Committee, as well as his  

outreach to the community, stems from his honest connection to those around him. If you are approached by him to perform a given task or to plan or head-up a major function, you will receive his undivided attention through written notes, phone calls or a luncheon meeting!  As Sue Daggett used to say, Phil is "high touch" not "high tech." 

 

His devotions at meetings, community functions or build sites are always inspirational.  They convey to others his spirit of service and his appreciation for the mission of Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod.  He is one of our very best ambassadors for Habitat. He conveys the spirit of Habitat throughout the community whenever he speaks at churches or any community gathering.    

 

From joining Dr. Martin Luther King marching from Selma to Montogomery, to his active involvement and leadership on Cape Cod in the Housing Walk for Love, the Council of Churches, one time President of Housing Assistance Corporation, and a life long Rotarian, Phil has lived a life that demonstrates Habitat adage of putting faith into action.

 

It is a joy and privilege to serve under the leadership of this Spirit filled servant of God, Phil Mitchell.

 

Thanks to Sue for this heartfelt message. Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod congratulates Phil Mitchell - we are so lucky to have volunteers like Phil!

 

Interested in volunteering? Contact Dawn Walnut at 508-362-3559 ex. 16 or  [email protected].


What's YOUR Habitat Story?

You know about Habitat from a unique perspective - yours! We want to hear your story - call or email Dawn Walnut  [email protected] or 508-362-3559 ex. 16.

Your stories are important to us.


 
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