Joining forces to raise walls and touch lives
By GAIL HOLLENBECK
Published February 17, 2007
INVERNESS - Forty-four Lutherans turned out for the wall raising of the newest Habitat for Humanity home building project in the Inverness Highlands last Saturday.
That, Habitat executive director Terry Steele said, was ideal.
"This is a new project, working with the Lutherans," Steele said. "They're sponsoring the home, and they need to do 50 percent of the total hours, so having that great turnout, along with the 34 Habitat volunteers, made it a good mix to do the project."
Before the work began, there was a short program with participation from Habitat officials, the partnering family and prayers of blessing by the Rev. David Bradford and the Rev. Tom Beaverson.
Six Lutheran churches are participating in the project: St. Timothy of Crystal River, Good Shepherd of Hernando, Faith Lutheran of Lecanto, First Lutheran of Inverness, St. Paul's Evangelical of Beverly Hills and Hope Evangelical of Citrus Springs.
Bonnie Peterson, publicity chairwoman for the project, said Thrivent Lutheran Financial is providing the funding for most of the house.
"This partnership between Habitat and Thrivent Lutheran will be building 355 houses in the United States this year," she said. "Twelve of them are in Florida, of which we are one."
Steele said his Citrus County group is the smallest Habitat chapter to be awarded one of Thrivent's grants.
"The others are Tallahassee, Miami, Jacksonville, St. Pete, Tampa, Naples and Orlando. We're the only one that's little," he said.
The house on Rooks Avenue is being built for Phillip Crusco and Stephanie Getchell and their infant son. As with all Habitat homes, the owners will put in 500 hours of "sweat equity" to help build their 1,066-square-foot, three-bedroom house, as well as help with other building projects.
"We help people who not only need a home but are trying to better their families," Steele said. "We have touched lives."
Habitat is a Christian organization whose first mission principle is "demonstrating the love and teachings of Jesus Christ" rather than preaching.
Doing rather than saying, Peterson said, is what the organization is all about.
"This, to me, is ministry happening before your eyes," she said about the wall raising. "It's God's work in action - the way God wants it to be."
Other church denominations represented at the wall raising include First United Methodist of Homosassa and Seven Rivers Presbyterian and First Presbyterian of Crystal River, which oversees the building of a shed with each Citrus County home.
Along with those at the wall raising, Steele said, churches in the county have helped with Habitat needs. The Church of the Nazarene in Hernando puts on a silent auction each year. The Methodist Church in Floral City donated money to cover the loss after tools were stolen from the Habitat construction trailer at Christmas. Several churches send volunteers as the need arises.
"We've been blessed with a lot of volunteers lately, and because of that, I'm going to try to start another wall raising on March 3 on Ryan Street, and we'll be dedicating a house on Anderson on March 10. I need another house to keep them busy," Steele said.
He would like to see other churches and organizations become involved in sponsoring a Habitat project.
"Future plans include sponsorship by Realtors, firefighters, Publix and Black Diamond Foundation," Steele said. "It's because of these kinds of sponsorships, that we are able to grow."
He also would like to see additional volunteers willing to work in the home store in Inverness and in the home office in Crystal River as "office angels" who will answer the phone and do mailings.
What Steele needs the most right now is qualified homeowners.
"There's plenty of them here," Steele said. "It's just a matter of spreading the word and explaining what they have to do. It's a helping hand up; it's not a handout."
Fast Facts:
Habitat for Humanity
For information on how you can volunteer, to find out how to qualify for a Habitat home or to have Terry Steele speak to your church or organization, call 563-2744 or visit www.habitatcc.org.
For today's religion briefs and calendar, see Page 3.