Homeownership Opportunity
Applications are now open for new homes to be built in Orleans and Marston's Mills. Application forms are available at the Habitat office, 411 Rt. 6A, Yarmouth port, or at various locations in Barnstable in Orleans. For more detailed information on applying, see our website.
Calendar
Saturday, April 5th, 2014
Orleans Wall Raising
Bevan Way, Orleans
8:30am
Monday, April 7th
Upper Cape Chapter Meeting
Learn about Habitat's activities and join (or meet) friends!
Mashpee Senior Center
7:00pm
Monday, April 7th
Yarmouth Town Meeting
Article 19 is a funding article to fund $155,004 for construction of our 6-home project on Virginia Street. If you are a Yarmouth resident, please attend - and if you are inclined to vote in favor of the article, we thank you!
Mattacheese Middle School
400 Higgins Crowell Road
6:30pm
Spring Celebration and Appreciation Breakfasts
Habitat for Humanity's Faith Relations Committee is once again hosting breakfasts to show appreciation to our supporters. Please join us to share in the gratitude and learn about our plans for 2014 and beyond. Enjoy a delicious complimentary breakfast and meet Habitat staff, homeowners, volunteers, and other faith partners. Newcomers are welcome - invite your friends!
Thursday, April 3rd
8:00-9:00am
Waquoit Congregational Church
Parsons Lane, East Falmouth
Thursday, April 10th
8:00-9:00am
First Congregational Church
697 Main Street, Harwich
Thursday, April 23rd
8:00-9:00am
St. Mary's Church
3055 Main Street, Barnstable
Wednesday, April 30th
8:00-9:00am
First Congregational Church
200 Main Street, Wellfleet
Please RSVP at
or 508-362-3559
and let us know which breakfast you plan to attend.
Friday, April 25th
Application Deadline
to apply for a Habitat home in Orleans or Marston's Mills.
More info on applying here
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News In Brief
Thanks to Transitions Centers
A terrific group from Transitions Centers, Inc. is now baking goodies once a week and delivering them to our Centerville construction crew for their morning snack. Transitions Centers, Inc. offers Day Services, Employment Services, and Life Planning to individuals with disabilities, enabling them to transition to greater independence and self-esteem. Transitions Centers allows individuals living with challenges to become as independent as they can be, supporting them with coaching, mentoring, respect, and compassion. Habitat for Humanity construction volunteers can tell you that the Transitions Centers bakers know how to make a delicious snack!
Falmouth Builds Together News
The Falmouth Fund of the Cape Cod Foundation has awarded a grant in the amount of $1500 to Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod in support of Falmouth Builds Together for the Glenwood Ave. homes.
Way to go, FBT!
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Construction Update
Mashpee
House #9 is complete and the Gamboa family has moved in. Flooring, kitchen cabinets, interior doors and trim are complete in house #6. Appliances will be installed soon, and we only have a very few work days left before we expect a Certificate of Occupancy.
 | | Move-In Day! - Congratulations to the Gamboas |
Flooring is complete and we have started on interior trim. Next up: cabinets and countertops. Look for a dedication ceremony announcement coming soon. Workdays are Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Orleans
The Wall Raising is set for house #6 and #9 - please join us on April 5th. We will then be framing walls on these two homes. Subcontractors are working on house #2 and #4 now, and we will start interior work on those homes this spring. Work will be ongoing on all four homes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Falmouth
The roof is on, insulation and strapping are complete on the interior and exterior clapboard is going up now. We will be painting the exterior trim soon. Workdays at this site are Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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Falmouth:
 | | Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered in Falmouth - This sure has been one tricky build! |
Orleans Women Build:
 | | Go, Kelly! |
 | | Some of the Women Build Steering Committee |
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Greetings!
Spring is coming, spring is coming, spring is coming. Maybe if we repeat it together enough times it will become true. One thing is certain: new builds are coming! If you want to volunteer on our Orleans Women Build house - or our other homes in Orleans, Falmouth, and Centerville, sign up here. What else is coming? Wall Raisings and other great events. Read on to learn more.
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Orleans Wall Raising
Come watch (or help) us lift and then bless walls for two new homes. Number 6 Bevan Way will be the home to the Dibble family, and #9 Bevan Way - a Women Build - will be the home to the Lungo family.
 Saturday, April 5, 2014
Bevan Way, Orleans
off of Namskaket Road
promptly at 8:30am
Open to the public - invite friends!
Light refreshments will be served
Major Funding by:
Town of Orleans Community Preservation Act Grant
A Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (FHLBB) Grant
Women Build 2013
Federated Church of Orleans for Women Build
Friends of Orleans Affordable Housing
For more information, contact Dawn Walnut at 508-362-3559 ex. 16 or dawn@habitatcapecod.org
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Staff Transitions
 | | Linda, helping to collate hundreds of homeowner application forms. She probably won't miss this part of her job! |
With this e-news issue, Habitat bids farewell to Linda Caldwell, part time Administrative Assistant these past six years. Linda devoted herself to a diverse range of duties in our office providing a lot of the behind-the-scenes detail support that keeps things running - from assisting handling ledger entries and deposits, to making sure that thank you acknowledgements were sent out promptly, to ordering the in-kind gifts from Habitat International. She prepared an ever-increasing volume of construction bills for approval, and maintained our files so that we could properly bill grants for specific project costs. And that's just a small sampling. As well, for each Annual Meeting and many special events, Linda would lend a hand with energy and creativity. We thank her for contributing to many of our successes over years, and wish her much happiness in her retirement!
As Linda moves into a new chapter in her life, we welcome Bri Blakeman as our newest staff member. Welcome Bri!
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April is Habitat Month in Falmouth
 The Falmouth Board of Selectmen have decreed April is Habitat Month in Falmouth! Merchants all over town are coming out to support Falmouth Builds Together's effort to raise money to help build the Habitat of Humanity homes under construction on Glenwood Ave. Watch for Paint Cans where you can leave behind your spare change - they will be at some of your favorites Falmouth spots.
Shop at Roche Bros and Windfall Market, where you can post a house on their wall to show your support. Stop and Shop will help out on the weekends with paint cans out in front of the store.
Dine at Friendly's in Falmouth from noon till 8:00 pm on April 28th - click on the image to print out this coupon and bring it with you to the restaurant to ensure 20% of your check will be donated to the Falmouth Builds Together effort.
Falmouth's 99 Restaurant will donate 15% of your check when you dine there on Sunday, April 13th from 4:00 - 8:00. Click on the image to print out this coupon, so you can bring it to the restaurant.
Enjoy tours of the site led by Dawn Walnut, Habitat's Volunteer Services Manager. All tours begin at 10:00 a.m.
Tuesday, April 10th
Tuesday, April 17th
Saturday, April 26th
Tuesday, April 29th
Note: This is an active construction site - please wear clothes that can get a little "sweat equity" on them, and boots or sneakers only - no open toed shoes or high heels.
If you have questions or would like to involve your business in this community wide effort, contact Wendy Cullinan at 508-362-3559 ext. 11 or wendy@habitatcapecod.org
Not in Falmouth but want to support the work Habitat is doing on Cape Cod? Dine at Not Your Average Joe's at the Cape Cod Mall any Monday in April - lunch or dinner - and they will donate 15% of your check to Habitat. Click on the image to print out this coupon and bring it to the restaurant.
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Habitat's Bookcase Project
 | | The Gamboa boys pour over their new books. |
For many years, Habitat quilters have been creating beautiful housewarming gifts for homeowners, and presenting them at the Dedication Ceremony. This year, a new housewarming gift has been added - a handcrafted bookcase. The Bookcase Project grew out of a desire to see a hands-on Habitat activity for youth under 14 - specifically for those too young to participate on a construction site. Many people helped take this seed of an idea and turn it into a reality. We would like to thank the Southport Woodworker's Club, who agreed to take on the assignment of creating kits that can be sold to church and youth groups to use to build their bookcases. Denis Casaubon designed the bookcase, and wrote detailed instructions on how to assemble them. Denis, along with club members Jerry Giusti, Frank Lord, Tom Gleason, and Gary Potter, made several kits for us - and donated one.  We were then lucky enough to find John Robbins - a Mashpee High senior who made our bookcases into his Senior Project. John created 20 bookcase kits for us! In addition, John made the first bookcase to be given at a dedication - at Park Place Way in Mashpee. John's bookcase included a few details the others lack, and the fine woodworkers in our audience will appreciate the craftsmanship of his rabbets and dados.  The second bookcase given, also at Park Place Way, was created by the "Do Unto Others" homeschool group - a service project group. Six children, age six to ten, from three different towns, helped to construct, decorate, and fill the bookcase with age-appropriate reading material and puzzles. They painted a quote on the top of the bookcase, and translated it into Spanish for the sides. The children told us that building the bookcase together made the project fun and easier, "Just like building the house... you had thirty people to raise the first wall, but just one person could not have done it."  The initial response from scouting, church, school, and other youth groups to this project has been very enthusiastic. Several groups are lined up to participate, and we look forward to introducing more young people to the satisfaction of creating something tangible with their hands to help others, and to the Habitat way of working together in community on a single project. And who knows - some of these youth may grow up to build homes, too!
 | | John Robbins handing over 20 bookcase kits to Denis Casaubon, Gary Potter, Jerry Giusti, and Frank Lord of the Southport Woodworkers Club |
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Volunteer Spotlight
 | | Frank Lord sizes up the situation in Mashpee at Park Place Way |
Frank Lord first decided to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Frank and his wife, Betsy, travelled for four months all through the southern states to help with cleanup and rebuilding efforts. They continued to volunteer for the next 12 years, travelling around the country as Care-A-Vanners - a group of dedicated Habitat volunteers who travel in their RVs and campers, helping local Habitat for Humanity affiliates build hundreds of houses annually. (Learn more about the Care-A-Van program here.) Frank was a team leader for a group of couples who became friends though the Care-A-Van program and would plan their trips, which typically included 8 to 10 rigs, together. Frank planned itineraries, researched local amenities, and coordinated construction work with the local affiliates. The team would work for two weeks with one affiliate, and then take a week to travel to the next stop on their itinerary.
During those years as Care-A-Vanners, Frank and Betsy worked at Habitat's 25-year anniversary build in Indianapolis - a ten home Blitz Build in 2001; they went to Bozeman, Montana to do a build and then spent 6 weeks travelling through almost all of the Western National Parks; and they helped with cleanup and rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Frank has worked at the Habitat for Humanity International campus in Americus, Georgia, and got to know Habitat's founder, Millard Fuller.
Frank also spent some time volunteering at Koinonia Farm, a Christian farm community founded in 1942 by Clarence & Florence Jordan and Martin & Mabel England. Koinonia is considered the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity, and Clarence Jordan, according to Millard Fuller, was Habitat's spiritual founder. Koinonia Farm is still a thriving community, and a functioning farm today, growing pecans and peanuts, and selling delicious chocolates (which can be ordered on-line). Frank worked on house repairs, the pecan harvest, helped prune grape vines, and worked in the bakery at Koinonia. He says the best job was in the chocolate room!
Frank is a retired Middle School Guidance Counselor. He got started in construction by hiring himself out as a handyman in the summers. He billed his business as "F.J. Associates" and Frank now admits that the "associates" were the salespeople at the local lumber yard whom he would consult for advice before each job. Those lumber yard training sessions have served him well, from his years setting roof trusses as a Care-A-Vanner, to his work here on Cape Cod where he has done everything from flooring at Danver's Way to, most recently, helping raise walls in Mashpee this summer. Frank says he prefers to keep his 82-year-old muscles safely on the ground these days, and often, you will find him giving devotions at our Cape Cod build sites.
But Frank certainly knows how to keep himself busy, even in retirement! He is active on the Mashpee Historic Commission, is the schoolmaster and president for the the 1831 Mashpee One Room Schoolhouse - where he helps run a program for third graders and give tours to the public June to October - and serves on the Community Preservation Committee in Mashpee. He is also President of the Southport Woodworker's Club. Frank says anyone thinking of volunteering with Habitat should know that anyone of any age can contribute. He likens Habitat's work to "a beautiful stage show - a lot of people get together and provide what skills they have to make it come together into something wonderful."
If you are interested in adding your skills to the mix and helping make some wonderful work come together with Habitat for Humanity, contact Dawn Walnut, Volunteer Services Manager, at dawn@habitatcapecod.org or 508-362-3559 x. 16.
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