Happy Holidays from Habitat!

From all of us at Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County we wish you happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

We love holiday hats around here, evidence below. We took two volunteer recognitions as opportunities to break out not only the Santa hats but also an Elf hat.

Santa hats in the ReStore!

Thanking Bill for all of his hard work. Hours worked: countless.

Roby's going away cake timed well with the holidays!

Showing off our matching fleeces!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

The Rockefeller Christmas Tree that is!

We at Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County love to share cool ways that people, companies and cities are helping Habitat complete the mission of providing safe, decent, and affordable housing. If you're like us and you love seeing the big Rockefeller Tree each Christmas, you'll love this story: 

The 2010 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will help build a Habitat for Humanity home

NEW YORK CITY (Dec. 23, 2010) The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will be donated to Habitat for Humanity for the fourth consecutive year to help build a simple, decent and affordable home.

After the holiday season, the 78th annual Christmas Tree will be milled into lumber in Rockefeller Plaza. The lumber will be used for the framing of exterior walls of a home built by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh, located in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York, near the community of Mahopac where the tree grew.

"The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a symbol of the holiday season for millions of people across the country and around the world," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. "Habitat for Humanity is both humbled and proud to have an ongoing role in this great tradition, and with the help of volunteers, we will see that the lumber is put to good use to bring hope to a family in the form of better housing."

Habitat used the 2007 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lumber to help build a home in Pascagoula, Miss., in partnership with a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Lumber from the 2008 tree was used to help build shelving in a multi-unit building constructed by Habitat for Humanity New York City. The 2009 Rockefeller Christmas tree lumber was used in the construction of a home in Stamford, Conn.

Fun slideshow of this years Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree: habitat.org/photogallery/2010/Rockefeller/index.html

New Property Acquired!

Don't put your hammers and nails down just yet. Encouraged by the success of the San Pascual site, Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County closed escrow on December 15th on property which will be the future site of twelve new Habitat low-income homes. As you may recall, our dedication ceremony for the San Pascual homes was on December 14th. Yes, just one short day later we closed escrow on the next property. We don't let any time waste around here!

We were able to purchase this property, located on Canon Perdido near Milpas Street, with a generous loan from the City of Santa Barbara. We are eager to get to work on this larger project and are humbled and grateful for the support of the entire community. Stay tuned for more information as we move ahead with our third major home-building project.

We would not have been able to acquire this new property without the dedication and support of so many. Their dedication to the mission and vision of Habitat will help us provide housing for an even lager number of local families in need. 

More San Pascual home dedication photos

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Well without the snow and with plenty of rain! If you're bundled inside this week, Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County has some more pictures from our lovely dedication ceremony to keep you entertained.

One thing we're especially thankful for is that our dedication ceremony was last week and not in the middle of this deluge that the central coast is currently wading through. Wow this is a lot of rain! Thankfully the San Pascual site has excellent drainage (yep, we checked!) 

The lucky few that got seats!

Garden table and chairs in the common area.

Always a fun time at the Habitat site!

Special thanks to Steve Hanson Landscaping for the gorgeous work. As you'll see above, the landscaping fits in beautifully with the aesthetic of the homes.  We would also like to thank the following companies for their support: Peikert Group Architects; Mike Gones, civil engineer; David Black, landscape architect; Ashley & Vance, structural engineers; Schipper Construction; Terra Firma Equipment; Gordon-Fiano Framing; Doug Mershon Electrical; Leonard Roofing; Estrada Plumbing; AC Ramirez Flooring; Ben Ewart Construction;and David Chase Construction. 

And special thanks to Robby Guevara for the above photos. Thanks Robby!

Dedication Ceremony

On Tuesday, December 14th, Habitat for Humanity dedicated the four new homes at 618 San Pascaul Street and handed over keys to the new homeowners. These four homes were built in partnership with Habitat's volunteers, donors, corporate partners, churches, and organizations. Please join us in welcoming the Do Carmo Family, Escamilla Family, Trujillo Family, and Ortiz Family to their new homes.

Hugh Davis introducing the Partner Families and Mentors to the crowd

Ribbon Cutting with Major Helene Schenieder

L: new homeowner Mauricio Trujillo, R: new homeowner Gabriel Escamilla with Site Supervisor Phil Archenbronn

ReStore Assistant Manger with volunteers Charlie, Betty and Bob celebrating after the ceremony.

Photo courtesy of Robby Guevara

ReStore manager Ruairi Bateson with Site Supervisor Phil Archenbronn

These homes were built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity's volunteers, donors, and partners. Thank you for making dream of homeownership and reality for four deserving and hardworking families in Santa Barbara.

Volunteer Spotlight on Candace Corey Cook

We love our volunteers here at Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County. We're enormously thankful for the thousands of volunteers with make our mission possible and are proud to say that Habitat's volunteers have put in a combined 11,489 hours in 2010!

 

One volunteer who has been a tremendous asset to Habitat since 2010 is Candace Corey Cook. We recognized Candace with a volunteer of the year award at our Annual Meeting in September, and again last week as she has clocked in over 240 volunteer hours.

 

Candace volunteers weekly at the ReStore and throughout the fall she helped as a site host at the construction site; checking-in and assigning our construction volunteers. Candace can also be counted on to help out at each of our various events and we take great advantage of her interior design skills to ensure that our presentations look magnificent.  Her dedication has been a tremendous asset to us since she began volunteering in 2008. Without a doubt we depend on Candace and are thankful for her time, friendship, generosity and attention to detail. Because of Candace, and all of our dedicated volunteers, our ReStore continues to be a success.

As a way to thank our volunteers and recognize their importance in helping Habitat accomplish our mission of providing affordable housing in Santa Barbara, we provide volunteers with a custom name badge and celebrate their volunteer milestones. A little late off the block, we bestowed Candace with both her saw and hammer pins - showing that she has completed over 200 volunteer hours with Habitat! 

 

Pure delight!

Candace receiving her saw and hammer pins.

ReStore manager Ruairi congratulating Candace.

Staff and volunteers celebrate with Candace.

We're always looking for friendly, hard-working people to volunteer with us. The Habitat ReStore is open Wednesday - Saturday, so there are many opportunities to support Habitat!

Last day of construction

Last Saturday, December 11th, was a big day for Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County! It marked the last day of construction on the four low-income homes on San Pascual Street, a project which began over 9 months ago. There was a flurry of activity as landscaping, carpeting, painting, and many other projects were being completed. But it was also a joyous day as volunteers, staff, and the Partner Families once again worked side-by-side to complete the homes.

We at Habitat are so thankful for not just our dedicated volunteers, but all of our church, corporate, and individual partners who make our work possible. We are also eternally thankful for our advocates whose support is changing the lives of four deserving families. 

Enjoy some photos from our last day of construction.  

Biggest challenge of the day - trimming the tree

Look closely and you'll see two tree trimmers

Hanging the gutters

Habitat for Humanity milestone: 400,000 homes built since 1976

Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara is proud to be an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. This week HFHI reached a milestone that we're thrilled to be a part of - and share with you!

Habitat for Humanity reaches milestone: 400,000 homes built or repaired since 1976
More than 2 million people around the world served through better housing

ATLANTA (Dec. 13, 2010) – Habitat for Humanity surpassed its 400,000 house milestone during its most recent fiscal year. Since the nonprofit organization was founded in 1976, its self-help, hand-up model has resulted in rehabbed, repaired or new housing for more than 2 million people worldwide.

"Over the last 34 years, Habitat for Humanity has steadily increased it scale and scope to help more families in need of decent, affordable housing," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. "In 2005 we celebrated our 200,000th house. Now, five years later, we have more than doubled that number thanks to the generous support of our volunteers and sponsors. It is a significant milestone and very encouraging, but we realize there is still much more work to be done."

To see examples of Habitat houses around the world visit http://bit.ly/hIu94a.

In fiscal year 2010, Habitat for Humanity served a record 74,960 families worldwide through a combination of new construction, rehabilitation and repairs. Habitat also helped an additional 6,355 families establish legal rights to a house or land, and provided more than 46,964 individuals with technical assistance ranging from legal help to construction advice or training.

"Throughout our history we have seen time and again that an affordable, safe and decent home is the gateway to better health, greater family stability and improved educational opportunities in every country where we work," said Reckford. "We are pleased that even in this difficult economy, Habitat for Humanity has been able to help an unprecedented number of families around the world have a better place to live. We are seeing great results from focusing not only on building individual houses, but also on repairing and rehabbing homes and creating partnerships that emphasize total community development."

By 2013, Habitat for Humanity hopes to assist 100,000 families annually with new or improved housing. A copy of Habitat for Humanity International's fiscal year 2010 annual report, "What We Build," is now available online. The report gives a snapshot of Habitat's work around the world.

 

Press release and photo courtesy of HFHI.

New photos of Habitat's San Pascual site

We at Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County are so close to being finished with all construction at the San Pascual affordable housing site and we have the pictures to prove it:

Front view

Aerial view from TV Hill - thanks KEYT!

And just for fun, here's a before picture of what the San Pascual site looked like just 9 months ago. It has come a long way thanks to hundreds of volunteers and soon it will be home to four well-deserving families.