News
Habitat Volunteers Needed for Home Expo Hospitality
Dates: March 17 - 20, 2010
Location: Former Sam's Club on Mall Drive near The Cossroads mall
Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity staff and volunteers will staff the Home Expo ticket booth during all the hours the Home Expo is open, March 17 - 20. The Home Builders Association of Greater Kalamazoo (HBAGK) HBAGK will donate $1 for every ticket sold at the Expo to Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity.
Volunteers receive one complimentary admission to the Expo. To volunteer, or if you have questions, please contact Sonja Roseman, vc@habitatkalamazoo.org, (269) 344-2443, ext. 204.
WMU Fraternity Camps Out to Raise Funds for Habitat
Community-minded members of Western Michigan University’s Alpha Tau Omega fraternity camped out for 48 consecutive hours to raise funds for Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity, February 23-25. Just a couple of tents at the flag poles on the central campus near the Bernhard Center sheltered approximately 50 WMU students, camping in shifts, in their marathon bid to raise $5,000 to help build a Habitat home in Kalamazoo this year.
“We wanted to show our support to those in need during this economic time,” said ATO Philanthropy Chair and Campout Coordinator Andrew Dering. “We also wanted to raise awareness about the need for affordable housing and the work Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity is doing.”
Donations still can be made on behalf of ATO by clicking the big orange DONATE NOW button at the top of this page. Please enter “ATO” or “Campout” in the appropriate box. Checks made payable to Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity with ATO in the memo space can be mailed to Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity, 525 E. Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49007.
Donations of Building Lots and Homes Help Habitat
In the last 28 months, generous donors have given Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity vacant building lots and rehab-able homes valued at more than $300,000. Three new homes sold to Habitat home buyers in 2009 were built on three of these lots and three more are currently under construction. A newly rehabilitated home was sold in 2009 as well.
"We are blessed with these gifts," said Don Jones, Habitat's executive director, "and we need more of them to continue our work."
For more information on donating a lot or rehabable home to Habitat, please contact the Habitat office, (269)344-2443.
Miss Mattawan Contestant Gives Big to Habitat
More than 100 pounds of assorted hand tools and $150 in cash were collected by Mattawan High School Sara Stephan as part of the Miss Mattawan Scholarship Program in January. As part of the program, participants are given $100 and asked to leverage the grant to benefit a local non-profit. Stephan partnered with Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity and gathered 203 individual items with a value of more than $1700. She presented them to Construction Manager Tom Tishler and Site Coordinator Lee Taylor. The assortment included nails, shovels, gloves, utility knives, hammers and other hand tools, tape measures, and safety glasses.
"This gift came at just the right time," Tishler said. "We are stocking up now for the new build year."
Stephan is looking forward to using those tools herself as a Habitat construction volunteer this year.
Thrivent Grant to Help Fund 2010 Build
Kalamazoo Valley Habitat has been awarded $65,000 for the construction of one Thrivent Builds home in 2010.
“The Thrivent Builds alliance has helped Kalamazoo Valley Habitat increase the number of families served in our community,” said Don Jones, executive director. “We are so grateful for Thrivent’s support of our efforts to provide decent, affordable homes in partnership with families in need.”
“We are thrilled to be working with Habitat again as part of this valuable program,” said Kay Landfair, president of the Kalamazoo County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. ‘The 2006 Thrivent project was such a positive experience, we can’t wait to do it again.”
While Thrivent Financial provides at least 65 percent of the funding for the home, local volunteers—many of them Thrivent members and members of area Lutheran congregations—will assist with construction and help raise additional funds.
171st Family Dedicates New Habitat Home
Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity’s 171st homeowner family dedicated their new home in the Oakwood neighborhood on Wednesday, December 16. To purchase this home, the family demonstrated a need for better housing, an ability to meet KVHH’s income guidelines and to repay the no-interest mortgage KVHH provides. The home buyer also contributed more than 300 volunteer “sweat equity” hours to the construction of her own home and those of other Habitat home buyers.
Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity (KVHH) builds and renovates eight homes each year in the greater Kalamazoo area. Homes are built in partnership with home buyer families and community volunteers.
Help Wanted: Volunteer Construction Set-Up Assistant
Do you like browsing at building supply and hardware stores and have general knowledge about materials and supplies? Habitat for Humanity needs you! Help the construction team prepare for Saturday volunteer work by shoping for and delivering needed materials and supplies to Habitat construction sites on Fridays. Bring a friend -- this would be a great job for a pair. Some lifting and the ability to drive a pick up truck with a trailer required. Contact habitat's Volunteer coordinator at (269) 344-2443, ext. 204 or by email: vc@habitatkalamazoo.org for more information.
FAST BUILT HOUSE DONE IN RECORD TIME
More than 300 members of the Home Builders Association of Greater Kalamazoo (HBAGK) set a new record -- the 2009 Fast Built house was completed in just 21.5 hours. The builders started the 18th Annual Fast Built House, the only house in the state built in one day, at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 17 and finished at 4:30 a.m. on September 18.
Does a House Float?
A new ranch style Habitat for Humanity home was floated into place in the Millwood neighborhood on July 12. The house was trucked in two pieces just over 30 miles from the Van Buren County Intermediate School District Technology Center in Lawrence to 3118 Lowell Street in Kalamazoo. Van Buren Intermediate School District construction trades students built the house during the 2008-2009 school year in partnership with Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity (KVHH). A crane placed the house, which weighed just under 40,000 pounds, on a foundation built by KVHH volunteers. Set crews anchored the house to the foundation and joined the pieces together. Habitat volunteers will work in partnership with the home buyers to complete the home.
The house was built to KVHH specifications under the direction of Tech Center Instructor Chris Garzella and KVHH Construction Manager Tom Tishler. KVHH volunteers and subcontractors will complete landscaping and other finishing touches as well as floor covering installation and final plumbing, electrical, and ventilation work before the home is sold to a Habitat partner family. The lot on Lowell was donated to Habitat for Humanity last year.
See photos of the House Float on Flickr.