Without people like you, we could not bring the dream of a decent,
affordable home of one's own to families in need. You can
participate in this worldwide effort to solve the poverty housing
crisis.
Come Join Women Build 2010!
Women Build 2010 Mission:
To Empower Women to Take Action Against Poverty
Housing in the Hattiesburg Area
Click
here to find
out more information about how you can get
involved!!
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HATTIESBURG AREA HFH
WOMEN
BUILD 2010 |
The
Women Build planning committee is seeking two types of women
volunteers: those interested in being trained team leads and
those preferring to work as general volunteers under
supervision.
We
are also seeking to expand our committee for Women Build.
Volunteers serve on a committee which meets periodically
throughout the year to help raise funds, coordinate
volunteers, organize projects and more. The Women Build
promotes organizational diversity within Habitat for
Humanity with a goal to sustain HFH over the long term.
To
get involved, contact the office.
info@hattiesburghabitat.org.
Click here for more
information and access to Women Build volunteer forms. |
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This was an amazing experience that I
was thankful to be a part of! ~Alma College
Student
More than 150 students from
Mississippi, Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, and Washington
journeyed to Hattiesburg to volunteer with
Hattiesburg Area Habitat for Humanity (HAHFH)
during their spring breaks this year.
The students worked continuously throughout their spring
breaks at the recently developed Celeste Place
Subdivision off of Edwards Street to build two
houses. The houses they were building are being
sponsored by Lowe’s, First Baptist Church of
Hattiesburg, and University of
Southern Mississippi. The two houses will be built for
the Wiggins family and the Carpenter family.
“Every year we get more and
more excited about our Collegiate Challenge
groups. They are enthusiastic, giving students
who are willing to use their week off from
school as a week of service” said Kami Fleener
Volunteer & Faith Relations Manager. “We are
blessed to have such a wonderful community made
up of wonderful businesses and church partners
who are willing to come out and fellowship with
these students while they are here.”
The
Wiggins Family
Ms Wiggins, 82, and Sammie, a 59 year old
disabled veteran, live together to help take
care of each other. When Hurricane Katrina hit
in August of 2005, Minnie Wiggins and her son,
Sammie, were living in an apartment in Pass
Christian. Since the hurricane, they have had
to relocate causing them to live from house to
house, separated from each other and without a
permanent place to live. The Wiggins family is
tired of living house to house and is excited to
be able to have a place to call “home.
The Carpenter
Family
Melissa Carpenter
became the victim of Hurricane Katrina in 2005
and was forced to move in with her mom after
receiving extensive damage to her residence and
losing all of her belongings. Melissa
is very excited about partnering with Habitat
for Humanity to build her a new home. Melissa
has been eagerly working her required sweat
equity hours any way she can, such as selling
raffle tickets at the mall, working a booth at
the Forrest County Fair, and even working at the
construction site helping to build the home for
one of her neighbors. She is heavily involved
with several other organizations, such as
Civitan Club, and is a secretary for the office
of Student Activities at the University of
Southern Mississippi.
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2009 Volunteer Appreciation Dinner
Hattiesburg
Area Habitat for Humanity (HAHFH) hosted it’s
very first volunteer appreciation dinner
on November 9, 2009 with over 175
volunteers in attendance. It was a time
of reflection and thanksgiving, music
and laughter, and recognition and
appreciation.
During
2009, HAHFH was able to make seven
families dream of homeownership a
reality by building seven homes in the
Hattiesburg area. Our work was only
able to be completed due to our
dedicated volunteer base in the local
community and from many out of state
volunteers who came during their spring
break trips in 2009. The families who
were served included:
*Gwen
Mobley, whose house, sponsored by UPS,
was completed in March 2009.
*Connie Harris, whose house was
sponsored by out of state Collegiate
Challenge groups and completed in March
of 2009.
*Anita Carter, Wilma Carter,
Monica Stallworth, Bridgette Ferguson,
and Barbara Walker whose houses were
sponsored by over 13 community churches
in the Hattiesburg area. Their houses
were part of the Celeste Place weekend
build in September 2009. Their
tentative move-in date is for December
2009.
Over 2,000
volunteers were applauded during the
awards banquet which was accompanied by
the music of Charles Carter of Word of
Faith church and a great
spaghetti buffet from Southern Oaks
House & Gardens. Many community
organizations donated door prizes and
items to stuff in goody bags for each
volunteer to take home, including
Chili’s of Hattiesburg, Seattle Drip,
and McAllisters.
Please accept our
thanks for investing your time and money
in our partner families, and the vision
of a community where every man, woman
and child has the right to a safe and
healthy place to call home. Because at
the end of the day, we’re not just
building houses, we’re building hope for
a better future.
Some of the awards we presented
during the banquet included:
Sister Carmelita Stinn
received
the Welcome Mat Award for her
warm heart and welcoming spirit
during the Celeste Place Weekend
build
“The build was 72 hours, but
Sister Carmelita was out there
for 78,” said Arthur Lumzy,
a member of the HAHFH board of
directors, who presented Sister
Carmelita with her award.
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Terry
Peters
received
the Golden Hard Hat award for
assuring the jobsite was always
safe.
“Anyone who walked past the
First Baptist, St. Thomas, and
Sacred Heart house was bound to
spot our recipient of the Golden
Hard Hat Award in his lime green
safety shirt and bright orange
hard hat. We are not sure when
he ever left the jobsite because
there was never a time when you
didn't see this award winner
working with the volunteers,
encouraging them, and assuring
the jobsite was always safe,”
said Cheryl Fluker, a Habitat
homeowner who presented Mr.
Peters with his award.
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Mike Devereaux
received one of our most
precious awards, the Marvin
Hayes Award, given in honor of
one of HAHFH’s most beloved
homeowner, Mr. Marvin Hayes, who
passed away after living in his
home for only one year. He was
a great man of faith, love, and
hope. Marvin was always willing
to give his testimony of how God
brought him from a very low
place and blessed his life
richly because of His mercy.
We
were very proud to present our
first Marvin Hayes award to Mr.
Mike Devereaux. He is a great
witness to the Christian faith
and is one of the most dedicated
and selfless of all of our
volunteers.
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Billy Pierce
received the 2009 Volunteer of
the Year Award.
Mr. Pierce is a volunteer who
has shown Habitat and our
Hattiesburg community what it
truly means to put “faith into
action.” Billy has shown his
love of Christ by continuously
putting the construction tools
in his own hands and building a
home for a Habitat family in
need. He spent countless hours
behind the scenes during the
planning process of the Habitat
blitz build. He has been a
steadfast presence on the
construction site before,
during, and after the build.
Billy is an inspiration to all
who work alongside him.
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Other
Volunteer Awards that were presented at
the banquet included:
Office Volunteer of the Year:
Val Sharfner
Vendor of the Year:
ABC Supply
Transportation Czar:
Julian Davis
Most Photogenic:
SFC Patrick Hamber
Golden Plunger Award:
Lon & Josh Mathias
Spirit Stick Awards:
First Baptist Church: Charles Welch
Temple Baptist Church: Scott
Hollingsworth
West Point Church: Wade Murray
United Methodist Churches #1: Matt
Johnson
United Methodist Churches #2: Russell
Bearden
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Supervisor On Site (SOS)
Challenge yourself to become one of Hattiesburg’s finest builders, improve your leadership skills and have a blast! We invite you to join our amazing SOS team.
We appreciate your interest in Hattiesburg Area Habitat for
Humanity, Inc. Your involvement with Habitat allows our family
partners the opportunity to learn building skills, patience, and
cooperation. We built five houses in 2008 as a part of the
Carter Work Project. To date in 2009, student volunteers built
one house as part of this year's Collegiate
Challenge - an alternative spring break program (students
pictured at top of page).
Supervisors on Site provide hands on leadership during the construction of the houses, while working with family partners and sponsor volunteers. Our current SOSs understand the Habitat mission, communicate the principles and goals of
Hattiesburg Area Habitat for Humanity, are patient teachers and are committed to giving back to the community.
The qualifications are modest:
- Possess a positive attitude.
- Bring a cooperative spirit.
- Help us provide a safe building experience.
- Read and understand HAHFH safety books.
- Learn to operate power tools safely and efficiently.
- Encourage the proper use of safety equipment.
- Demonstrate safe building procedures.
- Become proficient at one or more building tasks.
- Be willing to “see one, do one, teach one.”
- Provide motivation and encouragement to a diverse group of family partners and volunteers.
- Assist in providing a productive and fun experience for all volunteers.
We do not ask for a specific commitment. We merely ask that when you arrive on site you are prepared to
participate in a safety briefing, drink plenty of water, exercise muscles that you forgot you had, and above all, know that you are joining an exceptional group of people that get far more than they give. If interested, contact
the staff.
Beyond the build...
Hattiesburg Area Habitat for Humanity offers great opportunities to reach out to your community beyond the building of houses.
The Habitat HomeStore is a retail store operated by
Hattiesburg Area Habitat for Humanity to provide a new source of funding to build Habitat homes in the
Hattiesburg area. The Habitat HomeStore sells new and used
home-related items and building materials at generous discounts to
the public. All proceeds are used to construct more Habitat homes to
sell at zero percent interest to people who may not be able to
afford a conventional mortgage.
Habitat HomeWORKS classes will be
coming soon. They are offered to partner families helping them to learn valuable skills they will need during and after they build and purchase their homes. Course topics include construction basics, home maintenance, financial management, healthy living, gardening and more. Classes are offered weekday evenings and Saturday mornings.
Volunteer opportunities include: sharing your knowledge with others in a small class setting, providing child care for parents attending classes. If interested, contact
the office.
Habitat Office Volunteers – Have free time on weekdays? Join us at the
Hattiesburg Area Habitat for Humanity offices for ongoing and
special projects. We are always looking for reliable, self-motivated
people to help. If interested, contact the office.
Volunteers are always needed at Habitat. Use skills you already
have, or learn new skills by helping to build a Habitat home,
working in the office, assisting with a fundraising event, or on a
committee. Habitat works because of the commitment of its
volunteers; volunteers are rewarded in seeing the fruits of their
labor. You can help by calling the office or emailing:
info@hattiesburghabitat.org To help us learn more about you,
please fill out the Volunteer Information Form, available in
PDF or Microsoft Word formats.
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Along with
volunteers, Habitat is also grateful to receive many types of
donations.
P.O. Box
1092, 5191 Hwy 42, Hattiesburg, MS 39403
© 2005-2006 Hattiesburg Area Habitat for Humanity
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Info for Construction Volunteers
