Calendar
 

Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 

Mashpee Dedication

Park Place Way, Mashpee 
2:00pm


Monday, March 3rd
Upper Cape Chapter Meeting
Learn about Habitat's activities and join (or meet) friends!
Mashpee Senior Center
7:00pm


Women Build Project Overview and Training Sessions
Learn safety guidelines, tool use, and all about the Women Build project starting this spring.

All four sessions are the same - choose from the following dates:
Thursday, March 6th
9:00-11:30am
Sunday, March 9th
1:00-3:30pm
Thursday, March 13th
1:00-3:30pm
Sunday, March 16th
1:00-3:30pm

Location: Bevan Way, Orleans
 
For more info or to register for a session, contact Dawn Walnut
or 508-362-3559 x 16

News In Brief
  
Team Days
We have welcomed two terrific groups to our Falmouth construction site and two to our Orleans site recently. Like our other volunteers, they braved the cold and put in a hard day's work. As you will see in the pictures, a good time was had by all!

Falmouth Jewish Congregation, insulating and caulking
 in Falmouth:

Hutker Architects, strapping the ceiling in Falmouth:
Many thanks to Crabapples, on Palmer Avenue in Falmouth, for feeing the hungry crew!

 

St. Joan of Arc, shingling in Orleans:


First Parish Brewster, shingling in Orleans:

 


Construction Update 

Mashpee
Flooring, kitchen cabinets, interior doors and trim are complete in house number 9. Appliances are being installed now. House #6 is painted, and flooring is nearly complete. Soon we will hang doors and install trim, and begin to hang the cabinets. Don't miss the Dedication ceremony on February 22nd
  
Centerville
The electric has (finally) been hooked up and the heat is on. Painting will start later this month, with flooring soon to follow. Target finish date is April.
 
Orleans
Houses # 2 and house #4  will be closed until early spring for subcontractor work. House #9 is being backfilled. We will raise walls on both house #6 and #9 in early April.
 
Falmouth
Exterior trim is nearly complete, and insulation has been installed inside the home. Some of the strapping is also installed, and roofing is scheduled.
 
 

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Greetings!

 

We hope you are all staying safe and warm this winter. All this snow has been pretty, but enough is enough! This month, we are holding a Dedication Ceremony, a cause for celebration and an event that always warms the heart - if not the fingers and toes. We hope you can join us.
Mashpee Dedication

It's time to celebrate!     

 

Come help us celebrate as we dedicate the homes of the Lino and Gamboa families.

 

Saturday, February 22, 2014
6 and 9 Park Place Way, Mashpee
off of Rt. 130
2:00pm
Open to the public - invite friends!
Light refreshments will be served 

 

Land Donated by:

The Town of Mashpee

Major Funding by:

Town of Mashpee CPC Funds & Eastern Bank Foundation

 

These homes were built with:

A dedicated corps of community volunteers, the sweat equity of the owners, and many generous contributions from the community.

 

Please arrive a few minutes early to park and tour the home before the ceremony begins. Please park carefully, being considerate of neighbors. Carpooling is encouraged! 

 

For more information, contact Dawn Walnut at 508-362-3559 ex. 16 or [email protected]


We Are Hiring!
 

We are now seeking qualified applicants for the position of Administrative Assistant. This is a responsible 25 hour position requiring strong computer / database proficiency, excellent communication & organizational skills, ability to manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment, and a warm and welcoming manner. Please help us spread the word.

 

Experienced professionals should respond with resume AND cover letter by February 24th to [email protected]. More information and a detailed job description is available at www.habitatcapecod.org/employment

                                   

 Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod

EOE
 

 

Why a Women Build?
 

Women Build empowers women by engaging them to build Habitat for Humanity homes, and positively impacting the lives of local families. Women Build is about welcoming more women to Habitat construction sites and opening new doors of opportunity. At a Women Build, depending on the day, you will find an all female or predominately female crew, and all or predominately female crew leaders. In the comfortable environment of a Women Build construction site, women volunteers quickly learn construction skills, and gain a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Carolyn Kennedy, who has worked on two Women Build homes here on Cape Cod, says it was an "exhilarating experience. Most of us start as beginners and learn how to do tasks that we never thought possible and together we build a house!"

 

A program of Habitat for Humanity International, Women Build engages tens of thousands of women all over the world each year: in trainings, fund-raising, advocacy efforts, and - of course - building houses. Women gain confidence and grow their skills through training clinics, on-site building, and team activities, and, in turn, Habitat increases its capacity to serve more families. Since 1998, more than 1,400 Women Build houses have been built. Habitat Cape Cod has built four of its 81 completed homes as Women Build houses, and will start a new Women Build home on Bevan Way in Orleans this April.

 

The Women Build program brings women from all walks of life together to help create housing solutions. It will come as no surprise to Cape Codders that single family homes on the Cape are 10% more expensive than the rest of the state. At the same time, Cape Cod's average wage is 35% lower than that of the state. This "affordability gap" is what Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod strives to address - and it is a problem that disproportionality affects women. In Barnstable County, 11.2% of families with children under 18 are living in poverty, but the number increases to 20.9% among families with female heads-of-household. 67% of Habitat homes have been built with women-heads-of-household. In the U.S., more than 70 percent of Habitat's homes are built with women heads-of-household. By receiving training as part of the Women Build program, they are better equipped to maintain their homes for themselves and their children. 

  

Our Women Build home in Orleans will be purchased by Kelly Lungo, who readily admits that she is "really bad at even hanging things on the wall." She is very grateful that the Women Build will provide an environment that is less "intimidating than going in with so many men who know what they are doing." Kelly currently pays a very large percentage of her income for a small rental home. She is excited to be able to give her son Aidan "a forever home" in a neighborhood where there will be other children, he can ride a bike, and there is conservation land. Kelly is "excited and ready and thankful" to start building this spring.

  

Take action today: join us for Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod's Women Build! Starting in April, 2014 in Orleans, MA.

 

Training sessions: March 6, 9, 13, and 16th

More info: contact Dawn Walnut - [email protected] or  508-362-3559 x 16  

Volunteer Spotlight

 

Ed Ebert in Orleans

Don't ask Ed Ebert to show you how to cut a piece of wood. He's going to make sure you cut it yourself - but not before guiding you through all the steps. Ed, who was an educator for 35 years and is still writing books on the topic of education, approaches work at a Habitat job site in much the way he approached teaching. "Throughout my time in education, I cared about getting things into the student's hands instead of me doing things." As an example, Ed explains that when he demonstrates the way to set up a power saw, he finishes by taking the saw apart and returning it to its original state. By not leaving the saw set up, the new builder must practice both setting up and cutting with the saw. Ed observes, "People seem to appreciate it."

 

Ed decided to volunteer with Habitat after reading an article in the Cape Codder this past October. He has always admired the Habitat philosophy of "a hand up, not a hand-out." As a new volunteer, he has found the crews to be very welcoming. But what he has particularly appreciated is that, at a Habitat job site, there is no judgment passed when mistakes happen. At the Orleans site recently, a miscommunication resulted in some pieces of material that were cut too short. New material was cut and no one minded. Ed says, "If they had said, 'Man, we can't put up with stuff like that' it would have been my last day here. It makes all the difference in the world, for someone like me, in coming back." As an educator, Ed knows that mistakes are often a key to learning. "Things I've learned I've learned by making mistakes and doing it another way the next time." At a Habitat job site, our House Leaders and Crew Leaders work to guide new builders to ensure fewer mistakes happen, but when they do happen, it is taken in stride with good humor.

 

Ed has "been building stuff since I was a munchkin. I started with a hammer that had only one claw. I probably never finished anything but I could plan anything." More recently, Ed and his wife Chris have been  building their Wellfleet home. After summering on Cape Cod in his youth, Ed has "been trying to work my way back to Cape Cod since 1970." Ed and Chris started the house in 2003. A local builder completed the exterior shell of their new home, and then Ed and Chris took over and have finished the interior themselves. At first, they worked only summers, but after retiring, they moved to the Cape full time in 2010. Ed enjoys not only building, but also designing, and particularly likes finish cabinetry work.

 

In addition to the house, Ed and Chris have built a wood strip canoe, and "Chris built the engine on our GM from the ground up. There must have been a thousand ziplock bags with parts all over the place." Ed also once built himself an airplane, an accomplishment he downplays: "It's all parts. You put parts together one way and it's a house; you put them together another way and it's an airplane. It's just parts." 

 

Habitat is very happy to have Ed helping us put together parts at Bevan Way in Orleans.  

 

If you are interested in learning about putting some parts together  at a Habitat construction site, contact contact Dawn Walnut, Volunteer Services Manager, at [email protected] or 508-362-3559 x. 16.

 

 
Report your Friends!
Know of a Habitat volunteer who deserves some extra kudos? Don't keep it to yourself, let us know! Be a Habitat informant...
report good deeds by calling or emailing Dawn Walnut
 [email protected]  or 508-362-3559 x. 16.

Habitat stories are the best stories.


 
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