The Habitat Times

River City Habitat for Humanity—
Celebrating 50 Habitat Homes
Winter Newsletter 2007

Why River City Habitat for Humanity Needs Support from Community Members Like You

We’re Looking For a Few Good Friends

Some Words About Our Income...As a member of our mailing list, you most likely are aware that we do not GIVE houses away, which means you are already well-informed on our mission. What you may not know, is that although our homeowners do make monthly mortgage payments (which translate into approximately $80,000 in income for our affiliate annually), the cost of meeting our goal of 6 houses in 2007 will total over $390,000. That deficit, while well-served by income from the Habitat Re-Store (which raises funds to build 2 homes a year), must be made up through community giving.

There’s More...In addition to our normal fund-raising needs, River City Habitat for Humanity has also acquired twelve run-down abandoned homes across our community to rehabilitate over the next several years. While all of us here at Habitat feel this is a worthy under-taking and one desperately needed by our community, we have also borrowed over a quarter of a million dollars to acquire those properties.

Why share these numbers? To let you know that now, more than ever, RCHFH is growing, and we must have the support of “friends” like you.

Click here to download a pledge form to learn more...

A 50th Home. A 50th Family. Meet Zurett Merridith...

Zurett Merridith, a hard-working state employee, a student of night classes at Lincoln University, and single mother of three kids, has dreamt of her own home for a long time.

“Since my son (now 17 years old) was a child, it has always been my dream to own a home. Unfortunately,life threw us for a loop. I went through a divorce and a bankruptcy and some bouts of homelessness, and after applying for two loans to buy my own home, it became clear that a typical loan was not going to happen for me,” Merridith said.

With her income from her current position with the state, Zurett made enough money to continue living in her rental house, but Zurett and her children had outgrown it, and were not anxious to start moving from rental to rental again. In late 2005, Zurett applied to the Habitat program through the suggestion of a friend and was accepted.

“This whole process has been such an emotional experience for us because we know we’re never going to have to pack up our boxes again and move. This is going to be our home and that’s the greatest thing.”

As a Single-Parent, Zurett is required to put in 350 hours of sweat equity before she can purchase her Habitat home. Although her home is several months from being completed, Zurett has already put in close to 500 hours of labor on not only her home, but on four other homes before hers. And she’s done that while raising her children, working full-time, and attending college courses to complete her degree in Business Administration.

Did you know?

• Habitat Homeowners paid over $20,000 in property taxes to Cole County in 2006?
• Habitat Homeowners Pay for their home through a 20 year interest-free, no-profit mortgage?
• Habitat Partner Families put in between 350—450 hours of “sweat equity” labor on their home?
• For each Habitat Home dedicated in our community, RCHFH sends a “tithe” to Habitat, Intl to build a home in another part of the world, as a part of the Habitat “House for a House campaign”?
• We Need Volunteers! We are always in need of more volunteers for our committee work, for site supervision, for our can recycling committee, for office work, or to work in our Re-Store?
• Habitat is a grass roots organization that cannot grow, or even survive, without ardent financial and physical support from community members like you!

Become a Friend...

We want YOU to join us as a Friend of River City Habitat for Humanity! Joining as a “Friend” means a pledge, by you, your business, or organization, to send RCHFH $25 each time we break ground on a new build or a rehab project here in Jefferson City. Typically, we will have 5 or 6 ground-breakings each year.

What we can do, together:

• 100 Friends x $25 per build = $2500 x 6 builds = $15,000
• 500 Friends could raise $75,000 annually
• 1000 Friends could raise $150,000 annually

Download a Pledge Form to Get Involved...

From the President….

James Stark

Dear RCHFH Supporters:

The temperatures are freezing and ice has slowed everything down, but things are still moving at Habitat!

We’re currently hard at work on our 49th and 50th builds, and are in the course of prepping several additional new builds and rehab projects.

As we kick off 2007, on behalf of all of us at Habitat, I’d like to invite you to join us in our latest fund-raising effort by declaring yourself and your family as true FRIENDS of Habitat. Our affiliate continues to grow and impact the lives of local families, and we cannot do that without the support of concerned community members like you.

It is our mission to end poverty housing in Jefferson City, and while each house that we build may appear to be aent drop in the bucket, I’d like to remind everyone of what happens when you place a bucket under a dripping faucet. Slowly, but surely, that bucket will eventually be full to overflowing. We can do it together!

In addition to financial support, we have several committees in need of volunteers, especially our Fund-Raising, Volunteer and Church Relations Committees. You can get involved in Habitat by calling our offices at 635-8439 or by logging on to www.rivercityhabitat.org

See you on the job site! Sincerely,
James Stark
Septagon Construction

Churches of the Concord Baptist Association Hard at Work on House #50

Since November, multiple churches of the Concord Baptist Association have been working each Saturday on House #50, 1407 W. Main Street.

Contributing congregations are: Concord Baptist, 1st Baptist, and Southridge Baptist of Jefferson City, 1st Baptist, Main Street Baptist, Salem Baptist, and Pilot Grove Baptist of California.

When there hasn’t been a sheet of ice covering the entire house, crews have assembled to work on this landmark house. Many have traveled close to an hour to volunteer, and at the end of the day, most ask the same question: “How soon can you use us again?”

We’re so grateful for their gracious service and for that of our always-faithful Tuesday Crew! We hope to complete House #50 in March.

So Many Ways to Volunteer...

Join a Committee

• fund-raising
  
• volunteers
• public relations
• Church Relations
• can recycling
• family selection
• family support
• site selection
• building

Work the re-store

drivers, asst drivers, clerks needed!

Work the build site

RCHFH builds every
Tuesday and Saturday. Call the office for locations, 635- 8439

"You are the only person on earth who can use your abilities!" -Anonymous

Special Thank You’s

Once again, Habitat would like to recognize a few of our
local donors for their recent support:

• Embarq
• Aerodry, Disaster Restoration
• Troy Bonnett Electric
• Bill Pace, HVAC, California, MO
• Quaker Windows
• Asbestos Removal Servics, Inc

We are so grateful for local support and will continue to recognize our donors in future newsletters. To find out how your business can assist RCHFH call 635-8439.

A Special Thank You...

We would like to thank everyone who made our first Gala, on November 16, 2006, a huge success. We raised close to $14,000 to support our mission. The event would not have been possible without the support of local businesses that donated items for our silent and live auctions and purchased tables, or without the dedication of local supporters who purchased tickets to attend and cast bids on auction items. Advanced Image Systems printed our tickets at no cost, and Modern Litho donated much of the printing of our programs for the evening. We are also grateful to our MC for the evening Warren Krech, Auctioneer Charlie Pardon, Musician Mike Michelson, Reverend Chris Jackson Dumas, Jamere Brown, Lincoln University, Clive Rainey, Director of Community Relations, Habitat International, and all local media who supported or helped us promote this event.

In addition, we’d like to recognize the Gala Committee that planned the event: Sally Brown, Mary Ann DeCook, Janette and Chad Eggen, Tina Hoey, Steve Houser, Ann Roberts, Ashley Weaver, Melanie Wood and Habitat Staff.

If you would be interested in helping to plan events like this for RCHFH, please consider joining our Fund-Raising Committee by calling 635-8439, or e-mail kelly_rchfh@earthlink.net.

Printing of Each River City Habitat Newsletter is Generously Donated by Advanced Image Systems, Jefferson City