Area Churches to Support a Habitat ‘Disciples Build’
Area Churches to Support a Habitat ‘Disciples Build’ for the Combs Family
Missy Combs and her two children have been selected by Hancock County Habitat to begin a home building partnership on land donated by her family in Sedgwick. This is the first home Habitat has built on the Blue Hill Peninsula since 1999-2000 and we are seeking volunteers to help build her home beginning in Fall 2013.
Missy Combs came to Hancock County Habitat for Humanity in mid-2011 seeking a partnership with her family. Missy and her two children live in her mother’s Sedgwick home with five other relatives. After several cycles of Habitat’s Family Selection process, Missy’s tenacity paid off when her family was finally approved by the Habitat Board of Directors in February 2013.
Habitat for Humanity is currently the 6th largest homebuilder in the US and has been very successful in building with low income population due in large part to being able to motivate churches, the faith community, to support our partner families. We are in the process of planning a Disciple Build, where 12 churches come together to raise money and provide labor to build a Habitat house. We believe this is a dynamic and project-driven way to engage churches to join our mission, forming a coalition with 12 area churches which will open doors to new church partners on the Blue Hill peninsula.
Hancock County Habitat for Humanity was recently awarded a $9,500 Hancock County Fund grant through the Maine Community Foundation. This grant will provide matching funds with the 12 churches involved in the Disciple Build. Each church will be responsible for raising $700 (matched by MaineCF) and Habitat has seen yard sales, church bazaars, bake sales and breakfasts raise well over this amount. The point being once the church has reached is financial goal, its members are already involved in home construction, providing meals on weekend workdays, and some have even made quilts for all family members. And the momentum created speaks volumes to ongoing home building sustainability into the future.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–
For the past six years, the MDI High Habitat Class spent their winter semester learning construction methods (and about Habitat’s mission to provide homeownership to lower income families) by building wall panels for Habitat’s next partner family. They have built panels for homes completed in Otis, Franklin, Ellsworth, Hancock and Lamoine and this year the panels will go to a home to be built in Sedgwick. According to Jimmy Goodson, Executive Director of Hancock County Habitat “Bruce Munger and his Habitat class’s contribution is enormous to our small Habitat affiliate. They are able to construct high quality wall panels during the winter months while our volunteers are working on interiors of the current home. It is a Godsend! While we hope to begin construction this fall, we are still in a fundraising mode so any donations for this home are welcome.”
Habitat’s 18th partner Missy Combs and her two children were also on hand on Tuesday, May 28th as the MDI High Habitat Class erected all their completed panels in the school parking lot. The class does this mock-up every spring to ensure their connections are accurate, eliminating any delay in field installation, scheduled to begin this fall. An added benefit was that Missy and her 2 children could select their bedrooms well in advance of actual construction and the class enjoyed having the family visit to see the fruits of their labor.