Habitat's Youngest Volunteer

Eleven year old Taylor Clum, grand-daughter of Thursday Crew member Bob "Dawg" Clum, spends some of her snow day off from school volunteering with Henderson Habitat and granddad. Taylor, a student in Mrs. Johnson's sixth grade class at South Middle School often comes with her grandfather to help him with whatever he's doing.

Henderson Habitat for Humanity's youth volunteer policy allows for young people ages 14 to 18 to be on the construction site during construction when accompanied and supervised by a parent or guardian. Exceptions for younger children are made during non-hazardous construction times such as the final clean-up Taylor is involved in and landscaping.

Ohio Valley Financial Group's Volunteer Team

Tonya Knight, a Ohio Valley Financial Group Vice-President (in red), leads a volunteer paint team of bank associates to paint interior doors and trim boards during the final push to finish the Habitat house at 32 N. Julie Street prior to Christmas. Working with Tonya are: Tracy Vaughn, Gary Claybrook and hubby, Brad Knight. Tonya also serves Habitat as Secretary to Henderson Habitat's Board of Directors and chief liaison for OVFG's Federal Home Loan Bank member's grants to build affordable housing.

Habitat's Thursday Crew Keeps Busy

The dozen or so Habitat volunteers who faithfully gather each Thursday morning provide quality workmanship on each project. Shown are members of the "TCrew" in a very dedicated effort to finish the N. Julia Street house in time for a pre-Christmas dedication and occupancy: Harold O'Dell (top) cuts and fits baseboard trim while Glenn Busby and Fred Lauver set a bedroom door (middle) and kitchen cabinets are set by Bob Clum, Arnold Griffee and Sonny Beaven (bottom). A final inspection and Certificate of Occupancy received, the house was ready to be lived in on December 22nd!

Henderson Habitat very much appreciates these hard-working seniors who get the Affiliate's ministry done! Persons who would like to join the Thursday Crew are welcomed. Call Habitat at 869-9011 for information.

Dedicating Henderson's 44th House

Construction Committee Chair Kathy Lawson hands over the keys to new homeowner Laura Green at the December 22nd dedication of Henderson Habitat for Humanity's 44th house at 32 N. Julia Street. What a terrific Christmas gift!

12 Annual Auction Benefits Habitat

Guests of Habitat's 12th Annual Benefit Auction Friday October 3rd kept the Wolf's Convention Center's personnel busy providing food and drink. Numerous items were auctioned, providing the funds that Habitat will use to continue building safe decent housing for families in need.

Passing On The Know-How!

KY Habitat for Humanity Board President Ken Middleton helps young Stephan Barrett turn a shovel of dirt during the Groundbreaking for Stephan's new house at 608 Letcher Street. Also a member of Henderson Habitat's Board of Directors, Ken devotes countless hours helping people improve their quality of life, primarily volunteering with Habitat. Stephan is the oldest son of Shulisa Barrett, the recipient homeowner of Henderson's 46th Habitat home.

Letcher St. Groundbreaking Held for Barrett Family

Habitat Board President Mark Bailey (second from right) and Family Services Committee Chairman Paul Bird, Jr (stripped shirt) stand with Shulisa Barrett, her children and her parents, Steve and Clarisa Barrett, during the Groundbreaking of Habitat's 46th house in Henderson Sunday afternoon, September 28. Shulisa's house is underway at 608 Letcher Street. Her parents are long-time Habitat partner family members.

First Christian Church Hosts AmeriCorps Team

Rev. Dr. Dave Leslie shares with members of the AmeriCorps NCCC Fire 3 Team and Christian Womens Fellowship during a spahgetti supper served recently at First Christian Church. After a hard day's work of shingling the roof at 32 N. Julia Street, the AmeriCorps team enjoyed the very generous meal topped off with homemade desserts served by the CWF.

AMERICORPS TEAM ENJOYS ANTHONY & RUTH HAZELWOOD'S HOSPITALITY

A very welcomed and relaxful respite from their diligent labors at 32 N. Julia Street, the AmeriCorps NCCC Fire 3 Team were the guests of Anthony and Ruth Hazelwood for a cookout and yard games recently. Invited to share in the good food and fun were also members of Habitat's staff and their spouses Steve and Debbie Hargis, Bob and Sally Hicks, Sarah Heath and Donna Phillips. Ken and Susie Middleton assisted the Hazelwood's with the hamburgers, hotdogs, all the trimmin's, brownies and chocolate-chip cookies!

The nine AmeriCorp young adults finished their second full week in Henderson, having raised the walls, set the roof trusses and started decking the roof on the Habitat for Humanity house underway in partnership with Laura Green and her family. They are committed to staying through the end of October and hope to have much of the work on the house completed by the time they leave.

Families, civic clubs, churches and business are welcome to host this hard-working team of young adults for lunch or dinner and may contact Steve Hargis at Habitat (869-9011) to schedule a meal.

Thanks to the Hazelwoods for being the first!

APPLICATIONS FOR HENDERSON HABITAT HOUSING

will be made available and explained in detail on

TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2009, 6:30-8:00pm,

at the Henderson Housing Authority on South Adams Street.

Typically, applications for Habitat for Humanity housing are handed out from Habitat's office at 459 Klutey Park Plaza each year from January through March and then reviewed by the Family Services Committee for recommendation to Habitat's Board of Directors. In 2009, a new application and effort to improve the acquisition of information needed to consider a household for the partnership that builds a safe, decent house affordable to people in need will be initiated on Tuesday evening, January 6th. The Housing Authoriuty is providing the meeting room ONLY and is not otherwise involved in Habitat's application process. It is hoped that a number of households will be represented at this special meeting that explains in detail every aspect of the application and partnership Habitat establishes with an approved applicant household. This meeting is for adults only. Children should not be brought to the meeting. NO childcare will be provided.

Applicants must be US citizens and residents of or employed in Henderson County for at least one year prior to the date of their application. Applicants must live in substandard, unsafe and/or overcrowded circumstances and not be elgible for coventional mortgage financing. Applicants must be willing and able to participate in the building or rehabilitation of someone else's Habitat house and then participate in the construction/rehab of their own house. They must be willing and able to pay a $600 down payment prior to occupancy of their Habitat house and a monthly principal-only mortgage payment of approximately $350 including taxes and insurance.

When completed, the Habitat house is sold to the approved applicant for the costs of the lot acquisition, building materials and title transfer. Much of the labor is volunteered and Habitat adds no profit. Habitat will finance the sales price of the house for 20-25 years without adding interest. A homeowner's interest-free mortgage payment is "recycled" by Habitat to help build another family's house.

Applicants are required to give consent to credit and criminal checks and provide verifications of household income, employment and rent as well as personal character references.

Henderson Habitat for Humanity intends to comply to the letter and spirit of federal anti-discrimination laws regarding age, gender, national origin, race and marital status.

For more information, please attend the January 6th meeting at the ousing Authorty!

MLK Ave & Julia St Houses Progress, 3rd One Started

Members of the AmeriCorps team work to nail the roof trusses on the house underway at 32 N. Julia Street Wednesday, September 17th, while Henderson County High School students complete the shingling of their roof on the house at 716 MLK Avenue. Work on building a floor system for an unprecedented third house to be under construction at the same time by Henderson Habitat gets underway Thursday morning by members of Habitat's Thursday Crew at 608 Letcher Street.

Ground Breaking for Habitat's 45th Henderson House

Members of Laura Green's family are joined by Habitat Board President Mark Bailey, Family Services Committee member and family advocate Donna Mathias and AmeriCorps team leader Lindsey Hodges in the Ground Breaking for the new Habitat house underway at 32 N. Julia Street September 8th.

AMERICORPS TEAM FIRE 3 START JULIA ST HOUSE

Henderson Habitat welcomes the nine-member AmeriCorps NCCC "Fire 3" team to north-western Kentucky and to North Julia Street, where they will be busy weekdays assembling a pre-framed "kit" house Habitat is building in partnership with Laura Green and family. The young adults will be here until the first of November and hope to have the house nearly finished by then.

The young adults--all of them are in their twenties--range from Honolulu, Hawaii to Blakely, Georgia, from Maryland, Connecticut, Ohio and Virginia. Most are college graduates with degrees in mass communications, psychology, sociology, outdoor education and biology. Some came to Henderson after community service along the Gulf Coast with post-Katrina rebuilding and others from clean up after the mid-west floods in Iowa. All will have given at least a year of volunteer service to help various communities in significant ways.

Habitat's Resource Development Director, Steve Hargis, coordinated this fifth AmeriCorps team to visit Henderson over the past several years. He arranged accommodations for the team at Bennett Memorial United Methodist Church and the YMCA. Habitat's Construction Manager, Tommy Zvara, provides supervision and direction of the team at the job site.

Offers of meals and meetings with the team are being coordinated by Habitat and are encouraged for developing community relations. Simply call Steve Hargis at 869-9011 if you would like to host a very dyanamic group of young, energetic, hard-working individuals giving their time and efforts to improve our community's housing.

HC Detention Center Helps Unpack Kit House

Thanks to the community service work detail from the Henderson County Detention Center, pre-framed wall sections stored for over a year were recently unpacked and delivered to the job site on N. Julia Street. The four bedroom "kit house," as it has come to be known, was a gift to Henderson Habitat from a Christian mission group in eastern Kentucky. Under the supervision of Captain Ray Fine and Officer Jerry Lee, and with the use of a flat-bed trailer and truck provided by Billy Ray of B&B Excavating Contractor, these men made short work of a monumental task enabling another house--Habitat's 45th--to get underway.

HCHS Students Progress Habitat Build

Senior student Jessica Bruce, daughter of Sheila Bruce, and instructor Brad Moyes discuss progress on decking the roof of the Habitat house under construction at 716 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. by Construction Technology students from Henderson County High School. Ms. Bruce has been enrolled in the program for three years and intends to pursue a construction management degree and career after graduating next spring. As one of the senior students on the project, she provides leadership and experience to assist Mr. Moyes with the younger students.

Enrolled in the Construction Class and working on the Habitat house with Jessica are:

Steven Billings

Robert Blanford

James Montgomery

Warren Snyder

Jessica Spainhoward

Brandon Agnew

Caleb Butler

Mitchell Corpe

Alec Cullins

Caleb Dance

Kent Dossett

Joey Floyd

Tyler Fulcher

Daniel Glass

Dillon Goldsberry

John Goodson

Raymond Green

James Griffin

Daniel Holder

Michael Lambert

Sean mcGruder

Cody Morris

Gary Onan

Taylor Stone

Cody White

Robert Wilson

Timothy Wishon

Bradd Burris

Robert Monsen

George Proctor

Michael Salup

Zachary Williams

Jordan Willoughby

William Wortman

The High School students will continue to work on the house until completion, gaining experience framing, roofing, siding, insulating, painting, triming out and landscaping the house being built in partnership with Connie Madole.

HABITAT BUILDS HOUSES WITH RECYCLED ALUMINUM CANS

A sign on the wall at WESTERN KENTUCKY ENERGY reads:

IT ONLY TAKES ABOUT

27 RECYCLED CANS

PER PERSON

IN HENDERSON COUNTY

PER YEAR

TO PAY FOR

AN ENTIRE HABITAT HOUSE

Western Kentucky Energy collects aluminum cans for Henderson Habitat. You can too! Call Habitat (869-9011) to receive a free collection box for your office, church, school. Habitat will pick up the cans. Proceeds from the recycled cans are applied to the building costs of a Habitat for Humanity house in Henderson.

Thanks Western Kentucky Energy for the poster!

Hand-crafted Items and Personal Benefits Added To Auction Offerings

Personal Training Sessions at Terry's Total Fitness, hand-crafted porch swings, Kentucky's Official musical instrument--a Dulchimer--hand-crafted out of cherry and sassafrass woods--these are some of the new items added recently to Habitat's Annual Benefit Auction offerings. One hundred dollar gift certificates from Nu-Look Cleaners, an ice cream parlor table and four chairs, voice, drama, dance instruction at Riverbend Academy, a private wine tasting and tour for twenty at Equus Run Vineyards in Midway, KY, and a three-day weekend rental of a mini-van--all await the successful bid on Friday evening, October 3rd, at Wolf"s Banquent & Convention Center.

Tickets for Habitat's Annual Dinner and Benefit Auction are $25/person and are available at Henderson Habitat for Humanity's office, 459 Klutey Park Plaza, across from the YMCA. A preliminary silent auction with light hors d'ouvres, complimentary beer and wine and entertainment by Michael & Jennifer D'Alto begins at 5:30pm. Dinner and live Action begin at 7:00pm. Proceeds from this event enable Habitat for Humanity to continue building safe, basic shelter affordable to households at the lower end of the economic scale. Tickets are available until September 29 and can be purchased by VISA, Mastercard, cash or checks made payable to Henderson Habitat. For more information, please call Steve Hargis at Habitat (270) 869-9011.

For a complete list of auction items posted previously, click on "older posts" at the bottom of this page and scroll down to August 13th's posting.

High School Student's House Shaping Up!

Students in Brad Moyes' Construction Technology Class at Henderson County High School raise the roof trusses on their Habitat for Humanity house underway at 716 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. The new home of the Connie Madole family progresses each day by two groups of students whose class instruction comes on the job! Not only learning a practical skill and potential trade, the students also receive safety training and benefit from developing skills of teamwork, leadership and self-esteem from quality workmanship. In the white hard hat, Mr. Moyes helps students achieve goals they once thought were beyond their reach.

Deck Boards Given To Habitat's ReStore

Henderson Habitat's ReStore Manager Donna Phillips stands with Anthony Hazelwood and Bill Jones of Hazex Construction Company where the first of 18,432 linear feet of Mocha colored composite deck boards were unloaded. The 5/4" X 12 and 16 foot length boards will be sold at a discounted price through the ReStore and proceeds applied to the building of another Habitat house in Henderson for a family in need of safe, decent shelter they can afford to call their own. Customers will have to pick up their purchases at Hazex after paying for them at the ReStore on Klutey Park Plaza, across from the YMCA. The ReStore is open to customers 9am-4pm Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 9am-12noon on Saturdays.

A 17 YEAR LEGACY CONTINUES

Ms. Edith Suggs stands proudly on the porch of Henderson's FIRST Habitat for Humanity house. Seventeen years ago--August 26, 1991--Habitat celebrated its first Ground Breaking at 633 Seventh Street. Then Henderson Mayor Bill Newman and Judge Paul Herron attended the festivities. Ms. Suggs, now retired from the KY Dept. of Social Services, worked regularly with thirty volunteers to build her house. It was finished four and a half months later, in early January, 1992.

Ms. Suggs and Henderson Habitat's pioneer volunteers established a continuing legacy of the construction of safe, decent shelter affordable to households living at the lower end of the economic scale that presently has forty-three Henderson partner families and is building for three more.

Congratulations to Ms. Suggs and thanks for her faithful participation with Habitat. Her monthly principal-only mortgage payment has been helping to build all those other Habitat houses in Henderson since!

Habitat's Elimination Side!

Habitat's MISSION is multi-facited to be sure, building hope building houses for families in need of safe, decent and affordable shelter. But often before the CONstruction of a new house can begin, the DEstruction of an unsafe, substandard one must take place. Workers with B & B Excavating Company recently accomplished that task for Habitat at 608 Letcher Street,
ELIMINATING a substandard house so that a new one can be built in its place. Habitat is grateful for the voluntary contribution of the building lot on Letcher Street from David and Dana O'Nan. Their generosity makes Habitat's work possible.

Work on the Shulisa Barrett family's new home of will begin within a few days--the 46th Henderson County family to receive a Habitat for Humanity house since 1990. Habitat's dedicated volunteer "Thursday Crew," led by Fred Lauver, will be engaged in building this house, the third new house to be started within the past few weeks.

HCHS RAISE FIRST WALL ON MLK

Junior and Senior students in Brad Moyes Construction Technology Class at Henderson County High School raise the first wall on the house they are building at 716 Martin Luther King Ave in partnership with Habitat, 1:00pm, Thursday, August 14th. The students earn graduation credit hours while learning a valuable trade and about teamwork, responsibility and quality workmanship.

Photos and updates will continue to be posted as the High School students work towards completion of the project.

339 CYCLISTS PLUS VOLUNTEERS = SUCCESSFUL BENEFIT

Steve Hargis stands between the 100th and 101st riders Saturday stopping at the Hebbards- ville Volunteer Fire Department for refreshment and rest. Teri Ames and Linda Wulf of Newburg, IN were among the 339 participants in the Blue Grass Festival's Pickin' & Pedalin' Bike Tour. More than $4,500 were raised by the event thanks to the efforts of cyclists and the volunteers who were stationed at rest stops all along the 62 mile track.

Habitat for Humanity greatly appreciates the dedication of the following volunteers and organizations who helped make this year's event so successful: Steve & Debbie Hargis, Sally Hicks, Dave & Cathy Kast, Jennifer Mortis, Virginia Mortis, Megan Mortis, Rich Cocco, Bill Blackburn, Matt McClanahan, Gary Bell, Ken & Susie Middleton, Fred Lauver, John Gavin and family, John Berrong, Ryan & Sharon Head, Rev. Tim Hobbs, Ron Young and members of the Henderson General Baptist and Pleasant Valley Christian Churches. Thanks to the Hebbardsville Fire Department, Bluff City's Fairview General Baptist Church, Henderson General Baptist Church, Zion Baptist Church and the Pleasant Valley Christian Church for providing the rest stop facilities.

Habitat expresses its gratitude also to Sureway Food Stores for the donation of fresh bananas and oranges provided at the rest stops to the cyclists.

Habitat's 12th Annual Dinner Auction: Friday Oct 3

Henderson Habitat's 12th Annual Dinner Auction is scheduled to start at 5:30pm, Friday, October 3rd at Wolf's Convention Center, 325 First Street. Reservations are $25 for dinner and the opportunity to bid on over a hundred items donated to benefit Habitat's house building ministry.

Steve Hargis, Habitat's Resource Development Director, stands with just some of the many items listed below that will be auctioned. Simply call Steve for a reservation at 869-9011 Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

2008's Auction Items Include:

Four passes to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory

KY Art Museum's T-shirt and Julien Dupre's In The Pasture notecards

Two admissions to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill

Two tickets for the Dixie Belle Boart Excursion

75% off certificate for an Enterprise Rent-a-SUV or minivan

Henderson author Joey Goebel's book Torture the Artist

KY author Linda Scott DeRosier's books Creeker and A Song of Life and Grace

One year memberships at YMCA for new members

Belle of Louisville sightseeing cruises for two

Centre College hooded sweatshirt, size large

Derby Print autographed by KY Governor Steve Beshear

6-5" "Country Scenes" pattern Stoneware cereal bowls

Family Pass for four to Diamond Caverns Cave

Four passes to KY Horse Park and Saddlebred Museum

One night's stay at Drawbridge Inn

2 x 4.5 inches Replica of Ft. Knox Gold Bar plated in 24 carat gold

Two adult & two children passes to the Frazier International History Museum

Two passes to the Creation Museum

UK Football tickets

UK basketball tickets

Golf for four at Rough River Dam State Resort Park

One night's lodging at Rough River Dam State Park

Michael Jordan Signature Putter

Dean Davis' print Tennessean No. 1

Tennessee Titans Memorabilia

Two admissions to Dinosaur World

KY Author Jesse Stuart package Beyond Dark Hills and Cradle of the Copperheads

Cook book W-Hollow Kitchen Adventure

Two passes to Ashland, Henry Clay's Estate in Lexington

Two boat tour passes at Lost River Cave

Keenland Race Track vintage-look hooded sweatshirt--xl

Book, From Red Hot to Monkey's Brow

Book, Kentucky Shakers

Tickets for two aboard My Old KY Dinner Train Murder Mystery Excursion

Book, Kentucky's Last Great Places

Two passes for Barn and Backside Tour of Churchill Downs

One evening's lodging and breakfast at the 1869 Shaker Tavern B & B

Malone's Restaurant certificates

A wheelbarrow filled with p-nuts and Budweiser

Assorted Wines

Four passes to Hidden River Cave & American Cave Museum

$300 off certificate for a set of tires

Certificate for a complete car detail

Microfiber Vibrant Mop

Destin, FL Condo for one week

Weekend getaway at Green Turtle Bay/Lake Barkley

Year membership at Yew Dell Botanical Garden

KY author Gwyn Rubio's The Woodman's Daughter

Two passes to National Quilt Museum

Seven day/six night stay at Orange Beach, AL condo

Henderson's Jeff Lambert's handmade Dulcimer

Four passes to Headley-Whitney Museum

Overnight stay for two and breakfast at Casino Aztar Hotel

KY Bourbon liter

Stuart Austin Desk Clock

Marker's Mark bourbon-liter

Yard Barn 8 ft x 10 ft

Destin, FL Condo for one week for up to eight

This list will be updated weekly with additional items!
Plan to attend.

Make your reservations early!

Fantastic Pickin' & Pedalin' Event Benefits Habitat

From "Italy" to "Beijing" and "Canada" to "Ireland", from Owensboro and Evansville and Henderson and Ohio and New York and Bowling Green --from all over the place--they came and had a great time on a great day. Young ones and younger ones, ladies and gents, father and daughter they pedaled for Habitat and picked and sang to the enjoyment of all.

What a great day for a bike ride! Low humidity, mid 70's, dedicated bikers and Bluegrass Music players.

Visit Habitat's ReStore For Great Buys!

ReStore Manager Donna Philips and volunteer Annie Sallier welcome customers with smiles and lots of friendly help. The ReStore is open Wednesdays 9am-4pm and Saturdays 9am-12noon. Annie is one of a growing number of volunteers at the ReStore who help receive, price and display merchandise and assist customers. The ReStore schedules the pick ups of contributions on Tuesdays but is not open for sales and is closed on Mondays. For more information or to schedule a pick up, please call Donna at 826-0015, or better still, come by and see her smiley face!

Habitat's ReStore's New Look Looks Good!

Customers find home furnishings, electrical and plumbing fixtures, furniture, housewares and fix-up supplies more easily now as a major rehab effort concludes at Habitat's ReStore, 459 Klutey Park Plaza. Isles are wider, items for sale are located together--it's just easier to shop and find terrific buys!

Members of Habitat's Thursday Crew work to install a storefront double door which will enhance the entrance to the ReStore and facilitate better customer service with removalk of purchases. Significant changes inside the store during the past two weeks include increasing the sales floor, building a new sales checkout counter and reorganizing merchandise presentations. The new look includes dedicated areas for furniture, antiques and collectables, books, housewares, doors, windows, cabinets, electrical fixtures and plumbing fixtures. Everything in the ReStore is donated and available to the public for sale at a discount. Proceeds from ReStore sales enable Habitat for Humanity to build more basic and affordable houses for families living in substandard circumstances at the lower end of the economic scale.

AmeriCorps Team Builds Henderson's 45th Habitat House

Lindsey Hodges leads a team of seven female and three male AmeriCorp National Civilian Community Corps volunteers building Henderson's 45th Habitat house, starting September 8th. Assembling from flood relief work in Iowa and Katrina rebuilding in Gulfport, MS, these young adults will spend eight weeks here working with Habitat for Humanity and house recipient Laura Green on her new home at 32 North Julia Street. The team's goal is to complete the four bedroom house construction during their stay under the director of Tommy Zvara, Habitat's Construction Manager.

Ms. Hodge's team is the fifth AmeriCorps NCCC team hosted by Henderson Habitat over the past several years. These teams have previously built two Habitat houses in Corydon and one each on Clay and Washington Streets. They look forward to enjoying some of the same Southern Hospitality previous NCCC teams have reported receiving during their stays in Henderson, thanks primarily to the efforts of Steve Hargis, Habitat's Resource Development Director. In partnership with Habitat, Bennett Memorial United Methodist Church will provide sleeping and eating accomodations and the YMCA will provide shower and recreational opportunities.

The AmeriCorps NCCC teams all across America have as their goal--"strengthening communities and developing leaders through team-based national and community service." Henderson Habitat's staff and Board of Directors are excited about this Team's arrival and the work they will accomplish to benefit both a family in need and the community.

In Honor of "Our Leader"

Habitat's Thursday Crew members and staff --all point to Fred Lauvre (in center) wearing new t-shirts proclaiming their desire: "I want to be like Fred!" Fred calls the gang together each Thursday for breakfast and a morning of volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. The "T-Crew" has built several houses in the last few years and prepares to start another project soon. There's seldom a dull Thursday morning while working with the T-Crew--lots of fun, fellowship and good work each week. Opportunities to volunteer with Habitat--on Thursdays or any other day of the week (except Sunday) abound. Simply call Habitat at (270) 869-9011.

Breaking The Ground

Jim Pfeffer, Family Advocate, Brad Moyes, HCHS Construction Technology Instructor, Fred Lauver, Habitat's Construction Committee member join Marc, Erica and Connie Madole Thursday evening, July 24th, turning spades of dirt at the building site of Habitat's 44th house in Henderson and the Madoles' new home.

Henderson's 44th Habitat House Underway!

Connie Madole has been waiting for quite some time, but finally, work on the Habitat house for her and her daughter Erica and son Marc has started at 716 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue in Henderson. Joining the partnership between the Madoles and Habitat for Humanity will be the Construction Technology Class of Henderson County High School taught by Brad Moyes. Learning a trade with on the job training, these students will frame, roof, apply vinyl siding, insulate, paint and trim out the three bedroom house in the next several weeks.

The Madoles will join in the effort, performing a minimum of 300 volunteer hours or "sweat equity" in the construction of theirs and someone else's Habitat house. When completed, Habitat will sell the new house for the costs of land acquisition, building materials and title transfer. No profit margin is added. Habitat will finance the mortgage for twenty-five years at zero interest. These no-profit added, no interest charge and sweat equity requirement characteristics of Habitat for Humanity's housing ministry have defined the more than 300,000 world-wide Habitat house partnerships developed since 1976. Each month's homeowner principal-only mortgage payment is "recycled" by Habitat to help build or rehab a house for another family living in substandard, unsafe or overcrowded circumstances whose income is at the lower end of th economic scale.

Building new or rehabilitating houses in partnership with families who cannot otherwise acquire conventional mortgage financing is the focus of Habitat's mission. Improving neighborhoods and bettering the housing stock of entire communities are also key goals of Habitat's efforts as it works in partnerships with individuals, churches, businesses and civic groups to raise a community's awareness of the need to eliminate and replace substandard shelter and provide safe, decent, affordable housing. Habitat's work force is primarily volunteer. Its construction efforts are dictated by voluntary contributions of money, time and people's willingness to help their neighbors. In fact, "willingness" is the only requirement of any Habitat volunteer: willingness to share one's resources, willingness to sweat a little (or in August, a lot!) and willingness to show up to do whatever needs to get done. Habitat staff members gladly welcome anyone, young or old, male or female, skilled or unskilled who's willing to learn and willing to help.

For additional information, visit Henderson Habitat's home page, check out Bob's Blog frequently, or contact us at 459 Klutey Park Plaza or (270) 869-9011.

This is the FIRST posting on Bob's Blog. Henderson Habitat's NEW Executive Director, Bob Hicks, will post regularly and frequently activities, photos, happenings and invitations. Keep in touch! Meanwhile, be happy with Connie, Erica and Marc--they're on their way to moving into a house they can soon call their own and make a home!

Bob's Blog

Welcome to Bob's Blog!  Habitat of Henderson, Kentucky.

Be sure to check back often to find out what's new at Henderson Habitat and the Habitat ReStore!