Lent is often known as a time to give up an indulgent food or habit. Episcopal churches in Wake County are taking a different approach to Lent this year by giving volunteer support and funding to build a house with Habitat for Humanity of Wake County.  The 2016 Episcopal Lenten Build officially kicks off Saturday, Feb. 13. Representatives from participating churches will construct the walls of the home Saturday morning at Habitat Wake’s new construction facility at 2728 Capital Blvd, Suite 164.

Ken Hyer began volunteering with Habitat Wake nearly four years ago when he and a team of fellow Cisco employees came out to help build a home. Ken enjoyed the process so much that he joined us on the build site a couple more times. Before he knew it, he was volunteering with Habitat Wake every Saturday.

“How can we achieve a certain kind of compassion that stands in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgement at how they carry it?   For the measure of our compassion lies not in our service of those on the margins, but in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship with them—in mutuality.”                                    

On this Martin Luther King holiday, I recalled that, recently, at my church our pastor shared the thought that proximity destroys prejudice.  Think about it—if you spend time next to someone getting to really know them—you can’t help but respond in a more open and loving way.  Habitat build sites are great places for proximity.  We pride ourselves on our mission of “bringing people together” to build homes, communities, and hope.

“After hearing the enthusiastic description of youth mission trips this last Sunday, I’ve convinced myself I’ve been on a mission trip, without the youth part. On Saturday I drove over to the Habitat project on Martin Street at 8 in the morning and volunteered. Eventually there were around 25 people gathered to work together on the project house.

Listen to this:

Thanks to the News & Observer for a great op-ed, by Chapel Hill attorney James Bartow, on the limited range of options that municipalities in North Carolina have to promote affordable housing.  The op-ed appeared on November 20.

Habitat for Humanity has long held a belief that all of God’s children (meaning absolutely everyone) have a right to simple, decent, affordable places to live.  In heated up markets, affordability falls prey to the market and many are left out.

What a troubling report in this morning’s News & Observer, citing a 23% increase in the number of homeless students in Wake County public schools.  2,376 students!  That’s enough to fill an entire high school!  Please do all you can to help Habitat Wake provide affordable housing and let’s not wait until these kids finish school or drop out—the need is urgent!

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article47067030.html