Our Partner Families

HABITAT HAPPENINGS

Summer 2008

Fox Farm Village Build Begins!

Meet the Pearsons!

Laura Pearson and her son Devon were chosen to be a Habitat Partner Family in 2007. Since being selected they have been working hard on completing their sweat equity hours and learning about how to be a successful home-owner.

Both are energetic rays of sunshine and are really fun members of the Habitat Family. They moved here from Oregon five years ago to be nearer to their family. Laura is the manager at The Durango Kid so she knows all the latest and greatest toys out there! Devon attends Park Elementary and loves to skateboard.

They are both excited to have a home of their own in Bayfield and plan on planting an aspen tree in their back yard to celebrate the achievement of their life long dream!

The Ciluffo Family…Two and Counting….

We welcome Danial and Krystal Ciluffo into the Habitat fold with their quiet willingness to help in any way. Krystal, a Colorado native from Delta, moved to Durango in 2006 to attend Fort Lewis College while Danial moved from his native state of Washington with his mother Barbara in 1989.

Danial and Krystal met on a skydiving trip with a local Christian fellowship and began dating (one date was on the Florida Road Habitat build) and were married in July of 2007. They are expecting their first child in late July.

Danial works in the on line division of the Durango Herald and Krystal works in the after school program at Animas Valley Elementary and hopes to receive her degree in elementary education. They are both very excited to be a Part-ner Family with Habitat and look forward to working on the construction of their home in Bayfield.

Krystal has already started earning sweat equity hours working in Habitat Home Supply and has recruited family to help too! Thank you Krystal!

Danial & Krystal Ciluffo

Laura & Devon Pearson

3001 N. Main Ave. Durango, CO 81301 ♦ www.habitatdurango.org

Phone 970.382.2215 Fax 970.382.2545

♦ Issue 5 ♦ Published 3 Times Yearly

Habitat Happenings is published 3 times per year by Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County 3001 N. Main Ave. Durango, Co 81301

Fox Farm Village Build Begins in Bayfield, CO This season we are building two duplexes at Fox Farm Village in Bayfield. The property is adjacent to wetlands and has beautiful views of the nearby mountains. The houses are bi-level; from the front they appear to be single level homes but there is actually a second level below. The top level will have the living area, kitchen, half bath, and one bedroom. The bottom level will have two

bedrooms, a laundry room, full bathroom, and lovely views of the wetlands. These homes are go-ing to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly. They will even be Energy Star Certified, a first for our affiliate. Like always, the homes will be built by national and local community volun-teers working along side future homeowners under the direction of Habitat Construction Man-ager, Don Moffat.

Doing Our Part To Go GREEN… Here at HFHLPC, we are conscious of our im-pact on the environment. In an effort to lessen that impact and stay true to our mission of pro-viding affordable housing, we are moving to-ward a variety of “green” improvements. As al-ways, our Habitat Home Supply Store continues

to reduce, reuse, and recycle and therefore divert many items from our landfill. Our “Cans for Habitat” program is still accept-ing can donations from individuals and businesses in our commu-nity in an effort to increase recycling. The money received from recycling is used to fund current and future home building. In Fox Farm Village, we will incorporate numerous green building techniques on the duplexes we will build this summer and next. Additionally, as you may have noticed, our newsletter has taken on a new look... We are using 100% post consumer recycled paper and sending many out electronically. Please let us know if you would like to receive your next newsletter electronically and join us in helping to conserve re-sources! Email jen@habitatdurango.org.

Here at Habitat we reduce, reuse, & recycle in the most creative ways!

Connie Imig Bids Farewell as Executive Director

For the past three years, Connie Imig has run the local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County. Imig announced her resignation from the affiliate in late February of this year. Seven homes have been completed and a total of nine families have received homes during her tenure.

Imig was just re-elected to the state Board of Habitat Colorado where she has served as Secretary for the last two years. Imig said, “My position on the HFHC state board will continue to benefit our local affiliate and allow me the ability to advocate for the needs of affiliates statewide.”

She plans on continuing to represent Habitat through her committee positions for the local Re-gional Housing Alliance, the Affordable Housing Task Force and will stay on various committees with Habitat.

Imig, who is in the process of starting a botanical garden in Durango, says she is “not going away” but is going to start taking more time for her art work. She was recently selected for the San Juan National Forest Artist-in-Residence pro-gram for her tile making and her photography has been displayed in several places around Durango and in Tucson.

Connie, we wish you the best!

Habitat Home Supply has a constant need for volunteers and twenty-four year old Chelsea Woodruff responded to that need with a smile on her face. For the past seven months, Chelsea has been volunteering regu-larly 30-35 hours per week waiting on cus-tomers, answering busy phones, organizing, cleaning and filling in wherever she is needed in between her regular work.

Chelsea tells us that she enjoys the store environment; the vari-ety of things to do, where everybody is nice and appreciates her efforts. June Bowman, lead sales manager welcomes Chelsea’s willingness to accept new chal-

lenges and appreciates her consistent help.

Chelsea grew up in Durango, graduated from Durango High School and enjoys play-ing all kinds of sports. She describes herself as having a great sense of humor and likes having fun! Thank you Chelsea and keep smiling!

Volunteer Spotlight:Chelsea Woodruff

CCOONNSSTTRRUUCCTTIIOONN VVOOLLUUNNTTEEEERR OOPPPPOORRTTUUNNIITTIIEESS:: SATURDAY VOLUNTEERS: Here at Habitat, we are thrilled to have started building two duplexes in Fox Farm Village! We would love for volunteers to come out each Saturday, beginning June 28th to help us with this build. The shift begins at 8:00am and we are usually done around 3:00pm. Lunch is pro-vided, as well as a meaningful opportunity to give back to your commu-nity! Please call or email me if you are interested in volunteering individually or if you have a group that would like to come out together. If you have some construction experience and leadership ability, you can help lead crews of 3-5 volunteers on Satur-days as a crew leader. Attention to detail and safety as well as the ability to be pa-tient would be most welcome. If you are not yet registered as a volunteer, you can do so at www.habitatdurango.org. MID WEEK VOLUNTEERS: Skilled and unskilled help will be welcome during the week, Tuesday through Friday. Please call me directly concerning this opportunity so I can let the weekday crew know to expect you.

NNOONN--CCOONNSSTTRRUUCCTTIIOONN VVOOLLUUNNTTEEEERR OOPPPPOORRTTUUNNIITTIIEESS:: HABITAT HOME SUPPLY: Our Habitat Home Supply Store is exploding with great finds and exceptional deals! But now we need some help with organizing the store, moving items, and pick up and delivery assistance! If you have a heart for recycling or just want to help out with a great need, please call June or Ross @ 970.382. 9931. As an additional benefit, store volunteers now receive HABITAT HOME DOLLARS that can be used to purchase items in the store! LUNCH VOLUNTEERS: Our construction volunteers certainly work up an appetite out at the site! Since they are working so hard to help us build homes, we love to pro-vide them with a delicious lunch and you can help! Currently, I am looking for help with lunches for each Saturday in July! Any amount of help is appreciated!

Recycling Aluminum Cans Build Habitat for Humanity Homes! Save your aluminum cans and drop them off in the can houses at our Habitat Home Supply Store, 3001 Main Avenue, Durango OR call us for a bin to locate in your workplace. We’ll make ar-rangements to have them picked up. Sale proceeds go directly towards building Habitat Homes. Thanks From The People You Helped To get Decent Homes! Contact Nadine Chaney-Orantes, 970-382-9735 or nadine@habitatdurango.org

OV L U N T E E R IN G C O R N E RNever doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can

change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

–Margaret Mead

This summer, we have a large number of dedicated out-of-town volunteers coming to help us build in Bayfield! In June, we have a group of Care-A-Vanners, led by Tony Booth, who will be staying for two weeks. This will help us set the ground work for the build and get a great start to the project. Steve Blythe, also a Care-A-Vanner will stay with us the last two weeks of June, traveling all the way from South Dakota. Also in June, the Webster Presby-terian youth group will visit to help on-site at the home build as well as construct can houses for our Cans for Habitat recycling program. In July, the Bike and Build group will peddle all the way from Brooklyn, NY to Bayfield, CO in an effort to end poverty housing. We are still in need of lunches for these brave souls on July 9th. Ft. Lewis College Student Life will bring students on July 10-12 and 15-17. They will spend most of their days during their “Christ centered summer camp” with Habitat, serving our community! They will help out both on-site and in the store. Finally, Trekkers, “an outdoor based mentoring program that connects caring adults with young people through expeditionary learning, community service and adventure based education,” will spend a day building during their trip through the southwest area. We are so thankful to all of these groups who are willing to generously give their time to Habitat and greatly benefit the families we serve. THANK YOU!

SSuummmmeerr iiss ffiilllleedd wwiitthh oouutt--ooff--ttoowwnn vvoolluunntteeeerrss!!

Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity is a rewarding experience that truly benefits your community! If you are interested in any of these opportunities, or have others in mind, please call Jen at 970.382.2215 or email at jen@habitatdurango.org.

Landscaping on Florida

Rd. with KT Jorgensen

(top) and Yoko Miyata

(right)

F rom the desk ofNadine Chaney- Orantes

Wow! What an amazing year we have ahead of us! I feel so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful organization that has delivered on its mission to provide afford-able housing in La Plata County. Some of the anticipated enthusiasm stems from:

Construction has begun at Fox Farm Village in Bay-field, a first for us to build in town;

Our new homes are being built with greater care for sustainability, health and durability;

Our Habitat Home Supply store is filled with new items everyday

We have four wonderful families eager to get to work on their sweat equity hours;

We have a full line-up of construction volunteers from both within the community and out-of-state;

And we have an awesome Board, staff and many supporters and partners that help us pull it all together!

Of course there continue to be many challenges including land acquisition and funding but we remain confident that we have plenty of creative avenues to pursue to con-tinue to serve those most in need in our community. We couldn’t do it without YOUR help… shopping in Habitat Home Supply, volunteering on the construction site, smashing aluminum cans! It all adds up! Thank you so much for your support. -Nadine

3001 N. Main Ave Durango, CO 81301

970.382.2215

Habitat Staff

Nadine Chaney-Orantes Interim Director, Jen Nail Volunteer Coordinator & Office

Manager, Paul Rogers Accountant, Michaela Griffin Cordes Grants Adminis-

trator, Don Moffat Construction Manager, Ross Worley Lead Sales, June Bowman

Lead Sales, Jason Benally Driver,

HFHLPC Board of Directors

Laura Shelton President, Rich Vick Vice President, Laura Pickering Secretary, Pete

Olson Treasurer, Dean Brookie, Leanna Jaworsky, Aaron Miller, Liz Mora, Elizabeth Salkind, John Stordahl

Greetings from

Habitat de la Humanidad,

Nogales, Mexico

ctor of Habitat de la Humanidad in Nogalas, is grateful for the support their affiliate has received. Since the beginning of the project in the early 90's about 500 homes have been built. At the present time they have had to put a hold on all construction (soon to be lifted) due to the inability of many home owners to pay their monthly mortgage. When the economy is slow in the U.S., it has a devastating effect on the people in Mexico. Many factory workers are laid off or have their hours cut. Most Habitat homeowners work in factories making 8-10 dollars per day, while homes cost about $5000 with a $25 monthly payment. Jim Olson has taken several trip to Nogales and is planning to have 2 groups go in the Spring of 2009 for one week work pro-jects. If you are interested in organizing a trip, please contact Jim Olson, Windhover Journeys, at olsons@gobrainstorm.net.

Mario Rivera de la Rocha, Dire