Habitat for Humanity Celebrates July With a Shed!
The Erath County chapter of Habitat for Humanity is celebrating July 4th a little late this year, July 17 and 24th to be exact. Habitat will be holding its 2010 Fundraiser on these dates by building an 8’X10’ garden/storage shed for which they will sell chances. A drawing will be held to determine the winner at the event on the afternoon of the 24th. Pharham’s garage will aid Habitat by providing free local delivery of the shed, and McCoys Building Supply has been generous in assisting with the cost of materials.
Tickets will be on sale at the event at the cost of $2.00 per ticket, or $5.00 for three tickets. You may also purchase tickets in advance by contacting Tracey at scraphound02@embarqmail.com, or look for the flyer with ticket form attached at McCoy’s Building Supply, Greenmaker Nursery, Little John’s Produce and Nursery, Scotts Flowers, Reynaldo’s Mexican Restaurant , and many more!
Or click here to download a copy of the flyer and ticket order form.
About Us
Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 in Americas, Georgia by Millard and Linda Fuller. Its purpose is to end unsuitable housing throughout the world. The international operational headquarters are located in Americas, Georgia. Staff members at all locations serve to support and promote the activities of local, independent Habitat for Humanity affiliates, which initiate and manage construction, mortgages and homeowner selection worldwide. In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton awarded Fuller the Presidential Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest civilian honor, calling Habitat for Humanity “…the most successful continuous community service project in the history of the United States.”
By 2004 Habitat organizations in more than 100 countries had built 50,000 houses in the U.S. and more than 150,000 around the world, and in 2005 Habitat built its 200,000th house, bringing the number of people sheltered in Habitat houses worldwide to one million.
Habitat for Humanity, a Christian based organization has two guiding principles. The first is, "Give a hand up, not a hand out." By this they mean that Habitat for Humanity is not a giveaway program. Habitat partners in building with families who meet three criteria: they must be in need of adequate housing, they must be able to pay for their house, and they must be willing to work on building another family's house as well as their own. Each partner family must earn 80 hours of "sweat equity" on another family's house before Habitat will begin building their house, and they must earn a total of 300 “sweat equity” altogether. When the house is completed they pay for it through a no interest loan, which is affordable because they pay for materials only with no labor costs. The second principle is the "theology of the hammer." This is the concept that when people of any or no religion work together hammering for themselves and someone else, they are bound together in a fellowship of love. Therefore, though a Christian based organization, Habitat for Humanity serves anyone who meets the three criteria regardless of their religious or no religious faith.
Erath County Habitat for Humanity was started in 1997 and has built 12 houses for Erath County families in Stephenville and Dublin, Texas. Because most of our volunteers work at jobs or attend school during the week, we work on Saturdays only. Anyone is invited to volunteer, and if you currently have few building skills we'll teach you the basics of building a house. There are also opportunities to get involved by serving on the Board of Directors and/or serving on the following committees: Fund Raising, Family Support, Family Selection, Public Relations and Volunteer Coordination. If your skills are geared more toward these areas rather than building a house we still have a place for you to serve.
Erath County Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization supported by monies from Erath County churches, businesses and individuals as well as Erath County United Way and other various organizations. We also apply money received from previous Partner Families loan payments to the building of other houses. It is truly a circle of people helping people.