As August 3rd 2010 approaches marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we owe it to our children to make sure we do a better job of defending them in the wake of the next catastrophe.
Lakeland Habitatsupports this just cause. From pediatric care, nutrition and counseling to child-friendly shelters and temporary schools, defending kids in the coursework of emergencies requires that nonprofits, businesses, and federal, state and local governments work together.
Habitat for Humanity is working with Congress and the President to establish the National Commission on Kids and Disasters to be sure that children are never an afterthought in a catastrophe again. Read more and sign our petition today!Click Here…
Make a donation today and support Lakeland Habitat’s Housing efforts to help the less fortunate.
This year, Lakeland Habitat for Humanity will celebrate its 20th anniversary and complete its 100th house (and more). We are proud of what we have accomplished, but are constantly looking for ways to make our community stronger and healthier. At this time, we look to you to help us lay the groundwork for the success of future projects by participating in a brief survey based upon the information below.
To meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges, Lakeland Habitat for Humanity is considering a major campaign to raise $12,000,000 over a five-year period. This investment from donors, volunteers, residents, corporations and foundations would restore historic neighborhoods, create a one-of-a-kind community, and celebrate 20 years of providing decent housing.
To transform the lives of more families, Lakeland Habitat for Humanity will:
Partner with Parker Street Ministries and Lakeland’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) program to renovate 100+ existing homes in the Parker Street Community through our “Brush with Kindness” program;
Create Laurel Brook Village, an affordable, mixed-income community of 36 homes on 22 acres of land; and
Develop energy efficient projects, including an energy-producing solar farm at Laurel Brook Village.
Role of Community Support
We hope that you will help us plan for the anticipated campaign by participating in a brief survey. I am confident that your guidance will help us lay the groundwork for the success of these innovative and important projects
The outpouring of volunteer help on this build site, coming from corporations, community residents and youth from all over the world, means that this family will soon leave behind an overcrowded apartment and a neighborhood that gives the children no safe place to play. They will start a new chapter of their lives, one that is full of opportunity and long years of happy memories.
”We’re building more than just houses,” says Ruthie Cambron, who works as volunteer coordinator for Anderson County Habitat for Humanity. “We’re building eternal habitation, and we’re fulfilling the teachings of Jesus Christ.”
Without the steady stream of volunteer help over the years, Habitat could not have hoped to reach any of the great milestones it has celebrated over the years: 100,000 homes, 150,000 homes and now 200,000 homes.
The volunteers on this 200,000th Habitat house are extraordinary only partly because of their help in making a such an important milestone possible. When Koffi, Tonya and their family move in, more than one million people around the world will be experiencing the joy and security of a simple, decent home. These volunteers are extraordinary for reasons that are becoming very personal to them–what they’ve meant to the homeowners with whom they are hammering, shingling, painting and sweating as they complete this house.
Find out how Habitat is looking to the future with its 200,001st house.
Will Howell is a crew leader on Habitat’s 200,000th hou
Will Howell of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, likes the excitement of blitz builds. They have kept him coming back to volunteer for the past three years, but this one has an extra bonus—the chance to work with Habitat’s milestone 200,000th family.
”I love being involved on the blitz day,” he says. “I like swinging a hammer.”
Will is a crew leader for this historic build, and he credits his crew and others on the site with getting the build off to such a great start on Saturday.
”They’re phenomenal,” he says. “We plowed through the interior walls and were up on the roof in no time!”
Will is one of many local volunteers who showed up ready to deepen the dent being put in poverty housing in Knoxville. His work is a celebration of the countless hours put in by volunteers over the years to bring Habitat to this milestone in its history. It is also part of the commitment to continue building until decent housing is a reality for everyone.
But the blessing for Will may be simpler than that. He’s in it for the effect all this sweat and effort is having on the homeowners.
Terri Adams spent Saturday helping raise the walls on the future home of the Kouassi-Harper family.
Terri Adams is working on the home of Koffi Kouassi and Tonya Harper in Knoxville, Tenn., helping complete Habitat for Humanity’s 200,000th house built worldwide.
”We’ve been up there in the sun, pounding away!” she says.
As vice president of risk management at Denark Construction, Adams is a volunteer who knows her way around a build site. She also knows the good things that can happen when people work together to improve their community.
Adams is one of several Denark employees working on the Kouassi-Harper house this week. The company has a history of supporting Knoxville Habitat for Humanity with both manpower and funds, and it was a part of the affiliate’s first historic-compatible build in Knoxville’s historic district.
Both as a construction professional and a resident of Knoxville, Adams is happy to be a part of what Knoxville Habitat is doing in her city.
”There’s satisfaction in knowing that you’re working virtually with strangers on a team project, helping someone else achieve a dream,” she says.
Adams is a member of the National Association of Women in Construction, a national organization committed to enhancing women’s careers in construction. Through scholarships and community projects, NAWC helps empower women all over the country to discover their place on build sites. Adams is excited about what this means for Habitat for Humanity sites, where a growing number of women are finding that their contribution can be great.
“Everybody can participate in some way. Everybody can serve out there,” Adams says. “With a little bit of training and confidence in yourself.”
As August 3rd 2010 approaches marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we owe it to our children to make sure we do a better job of defending them in the wake of the next catastrophe.
Terri Adams spent Saturday helping raise the walls on the future home of the Kouassi-Harper family.
