Our First Friday Dutch Treat Lunch is scheduled for Friday, April 7. This time it will be held at Shoney's in Dunbar. Shoney's has been happy to offer us their meeting/dining room for our monthly lunch. Our previous site needed us to committ to a definite number of attendees. We just weren't ready to provide a guaranteed attendance. We have the room from 11:30 until 1:00 so we'll have time to eat and discuss issues as usual. Again, I encourage all of you to come join us. I also hope that you'll help us spread the word about the change in location. We intend to hand out volunteer T-shirts at the meeting so try to be there!

One more note about next week's visitors. They have a web site that is great. Check it out at

http://www.montini.org .

I thank Wendy Tipton for the very kind and inspiring comment she left on our blog. I think everyone of us, volunteers, donors, homeowners and staff, believes what she says makes this all worthwhile.

Have a good weekend!

Just a reminder that the Montini High School youth group will be arriving on Saturday March 25. Montini High is in the Chicago area. Jim Segredo will be leading the group. These young people have decided they want to spend their spring break doing something constructive and meaningful. They will be here for a week doing any and all jobs needed. The term "spring break" conjures up images of parties but these kids are travelling here at their own expense to help our families become homeowners.
These work camps always amaze me. We've met some great kids who prove that this generation is one to be proud of. Despite all the bad impressions in the papers and on TV, these kids show us that there are many, many wonderful young people in our country. It's a joy to welcome them.
I hope all of our regular volunteers will be there to show them the ropes and share some West Virginia hospitality with the Montini students. I extend a special invitation to all of the partner families to make an appearance at the job site and give these kids a pat on the back.

At our First Friday lunches, lots of questions and ideas are discussed. One that I think has real possibilities is business cards for our regular volunteers. I know you folks talk to all sorts of people about Habitat's work. Do these people ever ask "How can I get involved?". If they do, it means that you are a good ambassador for Habitat for Humanity. It also means that you need information in a convenient form to pass along to the prospective volunteer. Would a business card with our name, address, phone, website and your name do the trick? For someone truly interested, this would help them easily contact the Habitat office. If you think you'd like a few of these cards, post a reply on this site or e-mail me at tim@habitatwv.org . We need to recruit new volunteers year round and this might just help. I'm always looking for new volunteers to join our 3 great crews and I hope this will help each of you to recruit a few as well.

New Construction Calendar

The new construction calendar is now posted. Click Here to download it.

You'll notice that we have changed it quite extensively to reflect the reality of our situation and now includes the South Park house as one of the ten we will build this year.

The next house to start will now be on May 2. That house will be put under roof by Bayer - a joint effort between two of its divisions: Crop Science and MaterialScience. They have sponsored the entire house but will have its employees onsite primarily the first week.

Of course we have plenty to keep us busy until then don't we?

Sorry for being tardy with this blog update. I am trying to make this one of my main priorities.
Habitat's second First Friday Dutch Treat lunch was held on Monday, March 6 at the Golden Corral in Cross Lanes. I have to admit, the food is a whole lot better than I first expected. The variety on the lunch buffet runs the gamut from terrific pot roast to hamburgers to beans and cornbread. Many, many more choices are available including salads and desserts. It's also "all you can eat". Again, I encourage all of you to attend. One reason is that if we don't get more people for our meetings, they'll stop letting us use their meeting room for free. Another reason is that a whole bunch of good and useful information is shared at these meetings.
This past meeting's highlight was a talk from our Volunteer Coordinator, Tina Rhodes. She had some good information about what makes a person or family a good candidate for a Habitat home. She spoke of the qualifications to enter the program and the requirements once they are accepted. I've heard that many volunteers wonder about the family selection process. I am sure everyone there came away with a much better understanding of the process. One reason I'm sure of this is because of the large number of excellent questions asked of Tina. The volunteer audience was obviously interested in this topic. So come on down to our next meeting on April 7. It's cheap, it's filling, it's interesting, it's informative and it's fun. See ya there! - Tim

The Apostle's Build has begun! Today, March 1 marked the beginning of construction activity for Star Hogan's new home. Over the next seven weeks, we'll see volunteers from 12 local churches make her dream a reality. As you can see, Star is already working on building the floor. This is always an exciting time for a homeowner-to-be. Star has worked on the homes of many other Habitat families and now, it's her turn. If all goes well and the weather cooperates, we hope to finish Star's home by Easter. That's a fitting way to celebrate this wonderful time of year.

Hello again to all of our volunteers. Beginning this Wednesday, March 1, you will see increased activity on Star Hogan's house (House # 105). Twelve local churches have banded together to financially sponsor and build this house in an effort of community cooperation. Members of these churches will blend together into a workforce rather than work only with their own church group. A real spirit of cooperation is driving this effort. They all share in the determination to raise this house as a safe and decent place for Star to raise her family.
As much determination as they have, they may need a little help from time to time. We might have some of our regular volunteers help out on this build. Many of these new volunteers may need some advice on the right way to get things done. I can't think of better, more knowledgeable or dedicated teachers than Tiny, Lavern and our Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday crew members.

Our next First Friday Dutch Treat Lunch will be this Friday, March 3 at Golden Corral in Cross Lanes. Shawn has a few topics to cover and Tiny will again talk about construction issues. Have you ever wondered how families are chosen to the program? Tina will talk about what Habitat looks for in a partner family. The first meeting was considered interesting and informative by those who attended. We hope to get many more volunteers for our meeting this Friday so consider this a personal invitation to each of you!

Our affiliate has 3 visiting workcamps signed up for 2006. Here is a list of their names and the dates of their visit:

Montini Catholic High School (Chicago, IL) March 27 - 31
Faith Community Chapel (Western PA) April 11 - 15
St. Michael's Youth Group (Chicago, IL) June 12 - 16

The Faith Community Chapel group is led by Russ van Nest. Russ has visited us several times in the past. This will be his first trip here in 3 years
I'm sure many of you recognize St. Michael's as a faithful partner of HFH. I believe this is their 7th or 8th trip to Charleston in a row.
This will be the first visit for Montini Catholic High School. They learned of us from St. Michael's and Rose Koch.
I hope they realize how much we appreciate them. Gathering a bunch of teenagers and taking them on an 8 hour drive to help us build is not an easy task. Let's make sure they feel welcome when they visit!

Lavern Update

Just a note to let everyone know that Lavern is doing fine. We are expecting him to back at work on Tuesday, February 21. He is supposed to be on light duty, so help us watch out for him and make sure he doesn't overdo it.

I hope everyone managed to survive the snow this past weekend. There were 4+ inches in my front yard but none on the street. It sounds like NYC got buried. Another reason to be glad we live here in good old West Virginia!
I know that all of the regular crews worked extra hard last week to help our visitor, Seth, to get a roof on House 104. Thanks again for stepping up to the challenge. Seth, as you know by now, is an inspired and motivated character. If you'd like to learn more about what he's doing and why he's doing it, go to www.leapoffaithroofing on the internet.
I got to help out a little on the roof work this past Friday. I learned alot from Tiny, Bob Scholl, Ron Claar and Bob Pierson. Bob Pierson will be vising Thibadeaux, LA soon with a group of Care-a-Vanners to help that devastated area.
Ruel Elliott put in an extra day's volunteer work on Saturday past at House 103. He and some other members of Forrest Burdette United Methodist did some painting. Forrest Burdette has been a great partner with Habitat in so many ways. They have a group out to work on the second Saturday of every month. We are extremely fortunate to be the beneficiaries of their dedication and support.
We always appreciate the amazing committment of our Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday crews...putting up with Tiny and Lavern ain't easy!

New Calendar is Now Online

The updated Construction Calendar (version 2-9-2006) is now available. Click here to download it.

Our first "First Friday Dutch Treat Volunteer Lunch" was held today at Golden Corral in Cross Lanes. Twelve volunteers attended and had a great time of fellowship and information. As requested by some of those in attendance, here is the Power Point presentation from today.

We hope more folks can make it to next month's meeting. It will be on March 3 at Golden Corral.

Please note that our new construction calendar is online now. It can be found at http://habitatwv.org/kanawha/calendar.pdf. The current version is 2.1.06. It will be updated as changes make it necessary.

The calendar is a pdf file and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view or print. If you do not have it you can download it for free from Adobe.com.

Just a reminder that our first ever "First Friday Dutch Treat Construction Lunch" is coming up on February 3. It will be held at the Golden Corral in Cross Lanes. This will be your opportunity to hear plans and proposals about Habitat home building projects. Your input is welcomed! We intend to continue with a meeting on the first Friday of each month so there is no confusion as to days or dates. This has the potential to be a great tool for us and you should try to attend if at all possible.

There has been a change in plans for the Volunteer Lunch!! It is still being held on Monday, December 12 but the location has changed. Our lunch will be at the Ramada Inn located in South Charleston. We believe this will work out much better. The Ramada has assigned us to the Centennial Room. Look for your invitation in the mail!

Tim

Happy Thanksgiving to the Tuesday crew, the Wednesday crew and the Thursday crew. All we do is built because you have stepped forward and worked so hard. We may not say it often enough, but we couldn't let this special day go by without a salute to all of you.

Keep an eye on your mailbox for your invitation to our Volunteer Christmas Lunch. It will be at Bream Church again this year. We are still working on the time, but it looks like 12:30 will work out best. The church has an active children's program and many parents are there to pick up the young'uns at noon. We want to minimize congestion, let the parents get their children and get on their way without extra car traffic. Please try to attend. It means a lot to see each one of you.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Tim

We're Live!

This is the first post in our new weblog. The idea is that we can easily post messages and information here for everyone to view and comment on. We'll be posting information on special events as well as day-to-day jobsite information. Check back often.

This can also be a way for the different crews to keep in touch with the others. Let Tim or I know if you'd like to have any certain information posted.

While I have your attention, let me tell you to keep December 12th open. That will be the day we'll hold our annual Volunteer Holiday Luncheon. Details will be posted later.

Also, you will notice that our website has changed. This form, while not as pretty as the old one, allows us more flexibility in keeping it up to date. It might change again after the first of the year, but we hope to keep this weblog as an integral part of our internal communication strategy.

Thank you all for everything you do to help families have a decent place to live. We couldn't do it without you!

Shawn