Calendar
Saturday, November 16th
10:00am-3:00pm
Sunday, November 17th
11:00am-3:00pm
Alternative Gift Market
St. Barnabas
91 W. Main Street, Falmouth
Information: 508-548-3863
Saturday, November 23rd
10:00am-4:00pm
Sunday, November 24th
11:30am-4:00pm
Alternative Gift Market
UU Meetinghouse
3330 Main Street, Barnstable
Information:
We could use a few volunteers to help with this event!
508-362-3559 x. 16 if you would like to sign up to help.
About Alternative Gift Markets
Alternative Gift Markets, or Alternative Gift Fairs, are a great way to shop for the holidays! Rather than buying yet one more nick-knack for Aunt Georgina, honor her instead by giving in her name. Many charitable organizations are represented at each market, including Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod. You can choose from gifts that will help abolish poverty, or renew our planet's environment, to name a few. This is nontraditional gift-giving at its best.
Saturday, November 30th
Pancake Breakfast with
Mrs. Claus
Orleans Yacht Club,
39 Cove Rd. Orleans
8am-10am
Enjoy a free pancake breakfast with Mrs. Claus while awaiting the arrival of Santa by boat!
Suggested donation:
$7 adults, $5 children
Part of the proceeds will be
donated to Habitat for Humanity
of Cape Cod.
Santa meets with children at
Snow's Home and Garden,
22 Main St. Orleans
10am-Noon.
Sunday, December 8th
The Falmouth Parade
12:00 noon
Watch or - better yet - walk
with us!
Walkers should dress warm and, if you can, wear Habitat sweatshirts and a toolbelt!
Walkers meet at the Falmouth Mall parking lot at 11:00am. For more info, contact Dawn Walnut at dawn@habitatcapcod.org or
508-362-3559 x. 16.
Sat and Sun, Dec. 14 and 15
Lutheran Lights Weekend
First Lutheran Church
1663 Main Street (Rt 6A),
West Barnstable
"Gifts of Hope" Alternative Gift Fair, Scandinavian smorgasbord, music of the season, Santa Lucia Pageant, Swedish meatball dinner, Christmas Market.
Monday, January 20th, 2014 AmeriCorps Cape Cod's MLK Day of Service To get involved please email MLKDay2014@gmail.com
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News In Brief
Thanks to Emma and Amanda!
As runners in Falmouth in the Fall on November 3rd, they helped raise hundreds for Habitat. Over $200.00 was collected by the Mashpee Park Place construction crew alone. Way to go Mashpee Crew, and way to go, Emma and Amanda!
Shape the Cape
Cape Cod Young Professionals has designed a survey to help them make the Cape a better place for young people to live and work. Take the survey, and lend your voice! And, to make things even more interesting, if you are between the ages of 25 and 44, you could win $2,000 towards your rent or mortgage - just by taking the survey.
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Construction Update
Mashpee
House number 9 was recently blueboarded and plastered. House number 6 should be ready for blueboard before Thanksgiving. Target finish for both homes is in mid-March.
Currently closed to volunteers during the sub-contractor stage, we expect to open the house for volunteer blueboarding in December. Target finish date is at the end of March.
Orleans
Gable walls were raised for house numbers 2 and 4 on the morning of November 2nd and all exterior walls were finished on both houses by the end of the day. Work will be ongoing on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at these two homes.
Falmouth
Work has gone well on framing the walls and roof. Many thanks to Bob Leary for his leadership working on a stick-built roof with two different pitches and complicated valley rafters! Exterior trim work, to follow, is equally complex and will be a bit slow and tedious - but slow and steady will get us there in the end! We look forward to a less complex stage of this build, later this winter.
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A Happy Halloween was had by all on Yellow Brick Road in Truro this year.
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Three Cape Cod Community College students, and Ellen Ehrhart, start the Women Build by installing the sill plates, along with Bob Spence and Gilbert Merritt.
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Greetings!
We are now actively building at four sites, and our ReStore is going strong! There's something for everyone to do, whether you are in the Upper Cape, Mid-Cape, or Outer Cape. If you are interested in participating, check VolunteerUP for a schedule or call Dawn Walnut at 508-362-3559 x. 16. |
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"The Other Bill"
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Welcome Bill Olivier
If you have visited the ReStore recently, you may have been helped by a friendly gentleman with a name tag that reads, "The Other Bill." If so, then you have met Bill Olivier, the most recent addition to our growing ReStore staff. He joined the ReStore crew as a volunteer last May, at a time when there were four volunteers named Bill, one of whom created the name tag for him. He decided to keep the name tag, in part because "It's a great conversation starter."
Bill is a former clinical social worker with the Department of Mental Health, working at state hospitals for many years, and eventually becoming a case manager in a unit for the deaf and hard of hearing. He is fluent in American Sign Language.
Bill and his wife bought a house on Cape Cod 2 ½ years ago, knowing that this was where they wanted to retire. It was while looking for some furniture for the new home that Bill first found the ReStore. He left the store that day with a new vanity, and with a certainty that he'd found his retirement job. Bill says, "I knew I wanted to volunteer when I retired. That was my whole career - helping people. I want to continue to give back."
Donna Baldwin, ReStore manager, says that Bill is "personable and easy going. He gets along with all the customers and, especially with his background, he is very effective in working with all the different types of volunteers we get." Bill was originally attracted to volunteering at the ReStore because he saw a good group of people. "Donna is an inspiration. I see why a lot of the volunteers who work here stay. Working with her is a breath of fresh air." Bill loved the volunteer job so much he was inspired to apply when the ReStore Associate position opened up. Donna was thrilled to have him, "He's just great to work with."
In its first full year of operation, the ReStore contributed over $90,000 to further the work of Habitat of Humanity of Cape Cod, and sales have been growing. We are about to start renovations to the building that will almost double the store's retail space. We hope you will visit The Other Bill, along with Donna, Fred, Tom, Jim, and all the volunteers, at the Restore.
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Enjoy Some Wall Raising Photos
Falmouth on October 5th.
See more photos from the Falmouth Wall Raising here.
Orleans on November 2
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Doing a Happy Dance!
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See more pictures from the Orleans Wall raising here.
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What's More Important than the World Series?
On October 30, as the Red Sox were dominating the World Series, Habitat presented a proposal before the Harwich Zoning Board of Appeals. This is a typical part of the process whereby we acquire land for our projects. While the process was typical, the feeling in the hearing room that night was not. Responding to an appeal for help, a dozen Habitat supporters came to the meeting, and many of them spoke in favor of the proposal. As often is the case, there were also people in attendance who spoke against the proposal. But having so many kind words in favor of Habitat, words supporting our goals and mission, words lauding our accomplishments, went a long way toward helping turn the tone of the meeting. One 11-year-old observer got so caught up in the energy of the evening that he wished he could stay longer than his mother allowed.
Leedara Zola, Habitat's Director of Land Acquisition and Project Permitting, reported of the meeting: "The positive spirit and energy of the speakers turned what can sometimes be a negative process into a focus on what a community can do to work together. It was truly amazing. We had nine positive speakers, all of whom focused on an element of housing or Habitat that touched them. Speakers ranged from volunteers to home buyers to people active in town government and planning. We received all the positive indications we could want [from the ZBA board], and have a moderate detail list of items to complete before another meeting when we hope to get approval of our Oak Street project."
At Habitat, we are grateful to our community of supporters, who continue to amaze us in all the ways in which they are willing to help. Please join us in thanking these folks. After all, they were willing to miss the last game of the World Series to attend a local ZBA hearing - all to help seven families whom we don't yet know!
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Volunteer Spotlight
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Natalie Tudor building walls in Mashpee
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Natalie Tudor is a second-generation Habitat volunteer. Her father, Tim Tudor, is well known to many of us - he has been working with Habitat for fifteen years. Tim first got Natalie involved as a Habitat volunteer in 2001 in Osterville. She then became a leader on the Youth United Build at Danvers Way in 2004.
Natalie says that working with Habitat is "something I've always enjoyed. It's fun and it's good to get out and do something physical. But my favorite part of being on site is helping others. It's just a great feeling to help someone in need." And Natalie should know, since she's been helping since she was 14 years old.
When Natalie first worked on the Osterville home, it was because her father was the House Leader and he simply brought her with him - she came every other Saturday. But she soon found that she liked building, and liked being around so many "great people who are always willing to help you." She felt she was "as one with the crews." And it was a bonding experience for Natalie and her father. "He's proud of me. When I talk to him about Habitat, his eyes light up in a certain way. It's easy for us to bond in that way - and I enjoy working with him." It is easy to see that Natalie is proud of her dad, too. Her eyes also light up when she explains that he is a construction supervisor by trade, and his job is to "make sure everything is in order - correct, to code."
Natalie now plans to become an architect, and will be attending the Academy of Art University in San Francisco this January. She studied architecture at Boston Architecture College for two years. Natalie says she "really wants to learn about the different variety of [building] materials, what works and what doesn't." She has a particular passion for caring for our environment and is interested in green building techniques. One of her past jobs was for a solar installation company. Natalie notes that her father is a LEED Accredited Professional, and she hopes to follow in his footsteps. "It would be cool to be on board with a project that will be LEED certified."
Now Natalie is hoping to help raise some money for Habitat before she leaves for school, by participating in a Polar Bear Plunge, where she will submerge herself into Barnstable Harbor's waters on January 1st. She took the plunge (literally) for the first time last year and says the experience was fun. "They do a countdown and everyone runs in the water at once. Last year, I made sure to be on the end so I wouldn't get trampled and could get out easily. You have to bring a robe - something big and warm you can put on fast." And why did she do this? "I thought it would be a way to ring in the new year. It's a celebration - it's different!"
After trying it out last year, Natalie decided to turn her Polar Bear Plunge into a fundraiser. She is looking for sponsors for her plunge, and she will donate all of the funds to Habitat. We hope you will consider a sponsorship! To sponsor Natalie, contact Dawn Walnut at 508-362-3559 x. 16 or dawn@habitatcapecod.org.
By the way, you don't have to jump into freezing cold water to volunteer with Habitat. We have plenty of other ways for you to offer your service. Contact Dawn Walnut at 508-362-3559 ex. 16 or dawn@habitatcapecod.org.
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What's YOUR Habitat Story?
We heard some great stories in our 25th anniversary video,
"That's Why I Help Build It" (which you can see here) -
now tell us YOUR story.
or 508-362-3559 ex. 16.
Your stories are important to us.
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