Habitat Wake Happenings

This past Wednesday at Habitat for Humanity’s biennial U.S. national conference, Rev. Andy Stanley of Atlanta’s North Point Church provided some teaching around the story in Mark 6:30-52. Andy is a gifted teacher and communicator and he opened some new insights for me as he suggested that this was not primarily a lesson about abundance and scarcity or even miracles, but rather one of Jesus teaching the disciples what it means to depend on God and not on their own human efforts.

Yesterday, I was overcome with sadness.  And that sadness is still with me this morning.  You see, three of the Triangle's brightest and most enthusiastic young people were killed in their own Chapel Hill neighborhood in a quick and senseless act of violence.

Since Thanksgiving, Habitat Wake has celebrated home dedications with 14 families.  Praise be to God for that!  A home dedication is a time when we celebrate with our homebuyers the completion of their home and we thank God and our volunteers and sponsors for making it happen.

So, we’ve been completing a lot of homes lately.  Families are reaching a long held dream to own their own home.  Volunteers and sponsors are proud of the work they’ve done.  Things are definitely coming to a culmination after literally years of struggle for some families.

"You will bring them in and plant them On the mountain of your inheritance-- the place, LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, LORD, your hands established." Exodus 15:17 Ever since we established this blog in 2010, we've been looking to give it a name that captures the deepest sense of Habitat Wake's mission to give families an opportunity to provide a place for each of their family members to grow into all that God intends for them.

About a month ago, I received a call from a long-time Habitat colleague. I always love the opportunity to connect with others who share my passion for Habitat's mission, so I was happy to hear from him. This call exceeded my expectations!  It turns out that Habitat for Humanity has a major donor who became very excited when Pope Francis was elected Pope in 2013.  His faith in the Church skyrocketed when Pope Francis began to focus on a Church built on women and men in service for all people, especially the poor.

Today is the last day of our fiscal year and, oh what a year it has been!  Thanks to God’s faithfulness, an incredibly generous community, and such loyal partners this ministry of Habitat Wake has reached our highest level ever for serving families in a single year!  We are indeed blessed.

Tom Gipson, Habitat Wake Advisory Board member and long-time supporter, was this week's Tar Heel of the week! He has made amazing things happen with the Home Builders Blitz, and we're so thankful for all of his work. Tom and Steve Thomas, formerly of This Old House, were on-site Thursday during Builders Blitz week to see our progress and speak with the builders about their experience.

We have an indeed had a blessed year!  Our fiscal year ends at June 30 and we will have served 119 families this year.  We had planned to serve 102 families, so here’s to the 17 additional families we were able to serve thanks to a faithful God, a super generous community, very committed volunteers, and to diligent work from a talented staff team!

It’s all about perspective.  This week, 130+ AmeriCorps volunteers from throughout the country have descended upon the Northeast End community in Wake Forest with the task of building three homes from framing to finish, 2 homes from painting to finish, and providing much needed exterior repairs to 10 owner-occupied homes—all the while living with co-workers in a freshman dorm at NC State.