News & Updates

Today’s blogger is Judy Szustakowski, a long-time Habitat Wake volunteer house leader.  This is her first build with Habitat outside the U.S.

Lessons learned today: (1) Be on time for the morning meeting; (2) Don’t work with a bunch of wimps; (3) Making bricks is hard work.

A knock on my door at 7:00 am startled me, even though I was already awake and reading.  Little did I know that we were meeting each morning at 7:00.  Without my computer and calendar, I never know where I am supposed to be.  Isn’t that sad?

Our blogger today is Norma Jones, Habitat Wake homeowner in Cary and participant in Habitat Wake’s Global Village trip to Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras.

Hola  Everyone, I am Norma,  proud habitat homeowner from Cary. I worked on my home as well as several others in the past but Lord knows now I know what real work is.

At 4 a.m., the sound of firecrackers broke the silence of the city.  By 5:30, our group had assembled several blocks from the main city square and could see the approaching parade and hear the music.  This celebration, called Carrerita de San Juan, is the traditional Easter morning celebration in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras.

On Saturday, nine Wake Countians will be traveling to Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras as part of Habitat Wake’s first ever Global Village trip to Honduras.  I’m excited to be one of the nine and traveling back to the area I visited and served in last year.

Heather and her family moved into a Habitat house in Wake County 16 years ago.  Heather was 10 then.  Today, Heather serves on staff at Durham Habitat as their volunteer services manager, coordinating the thousands of volunteers for their program.

It’s always an exciting day when you get to participate in a house dedication—a time to celebrate with the homebuyers, the volunteers, the sponsors, and the Habitat staff who have worked so hard, in partnership, to create this incredible new opportunity for a family.

We are dedicating two homes later today—with the Pender and Johnson families—on Skycrest Drive in NE Raleigh close to our offices and Raleigh ReStore.  It will be a great celebration, as they always are, especially in this beautiful, early spring weather!

Sometimes things work out. 

As part of our Long Acres work in SE Raleigh, the City of Raleigh had acquired a house on Parnell Drive that they planned to demolish in order for Habitat to come in and put a new structure in its’ place. The home definitely needed to be demolished, but it was occupied.  As with any federal grant, there were provisions to financially compensate the occupants for relocation. 

"If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together."  Chinese proverb

A key theme at Habitat on the Hill is the creative, albeit, sometimes unlikely partnerships that are developing due to reduced funding. This tightening of the belt is being faced at all levels -- from governmental agencies to nonprofits to the individual families served by Habitat affiliates across the country.  While the economic environment is challenging at best, there is a silver lining.

I just had the distinct privilege of attending the closing for Ricky Mitchell and the house we built together with him in Long Acres in Raleigh.  Habitat is a partnership, not a charity give-away.  And with Ricky this couldn’t be truer.  Ricky himself was actively engaged in all aspects of the construction.  Ricky’s brother, a professional roofer, installed the roof shingles.  Ricky’s co-worker, a trim carpenter, installed all the interior doors in a matter of hours and then cut the baseboards which Ricky installed.