E-NEWS Volume 1

Greetings and wishes for a Happy Independence Day from Habitat for Humanity Sarasota.

Although Habitat will be closed tomorrow for the 4th of July holiday, today things are busy as usual. At the time of this writing, a crew of volunteers are working away at Jordan's Crossing, another small group is helping Mote Marine with a special construction project, and here at 1757 N. East Avenue there are many volunteers in their yellow shirts keeping us organized in the office and helping customers at our store. And ... I just saw one volunteer test-riding a bike before it goes on the floor for sale. If you need a nice, used bicycle, you should come to our Home Improvement Outlet and check it out! Please read on for several updates about what's happening at Habitat.

Women Build Home Dedicated

Vicki, Victor and Vinnie Rocco Were Guests of Honor at June 23rd Ceremony

Last October women volunteers raised the walls of the Rocco Family Home. On June 23rd, the hard work of literally hundreds of people came to fruition at the dedication ceremony of this special handicapped accessible house. Afterwards, visitors were invited to tour - in the words of Pastor Eric Want of First Baptist Church - "the home that love built".

Operation ReHabitat Up and Running

Faith-Based Organizations Carry Out "90 Days of Blessings" in Newtown

Habitat for Humanity Sarasota is partnering for the second year with the Newtown Front Porch Neighborhood Revitalization Council to continue Operation ReHabitat in addressing home repair needs of qualified Newtown home owners. The 2nd Annual Global Day of Prayer/"90 Days of Blessing" project kicked off on June 23 at the Robert Taylor Gymnasium in Newtown. After a welcoming ceremony, volunteers from the Greater Newtown faith community, partnering congregations and individuals throughout the Manasota area and Habitat for Humanity, divided into teams to provide volunteer labor within the Newtown Front Porch Neighborhood. Church of the Palms proudly brought out the largest volunteer group.

Other churches and organizations represented at the Kickoff were:

Abundant Life Christian Center
Bethesda Outreach Ministries
Biblical Heritage Institute
Central Church of Christ
Consuming Fire
Cornerstone at Lakewood Ranch
Covenant Life Presbyterian Church
First Church of God - Bradenton
First Nazarene Church - Bradenton
Friendship Volunteer Center
Grace Bible
Life FM 89.1
Manasota Global Day Of Prayer leaders
New Bethel Missionary Baptist
Newtown Front Porch Neighborhood Council
Sarasota Baptist

Additional churches participating over the course of the summer will include:

43rd St. Church of Christ
Calvary Chapel
Cornerstone Baptist Church
Fellowship of Believers
First Baptist Sarasota
Harvest Tabernacle
Hope International Ministries
Parrish United Methodist Church
Suncoast Community Church
St. James United Methodist Church
St. Margaret Episcopal
The Tabernacle
Truvine Missionary Baptist Church
The project continues for 90 days. Donations and volunteers are still needed. Volunteers work on Wednesday and Saturday mornings and meet at the Newtown Redevelopment Office (1782 Dr. ML King Jr. Way) at 7:30 a.m. where they are assigned to the appropriate home site for that day. Habitat provides tools, but individuals are invited to bring their own equipment if they have it (paint brushes, hammers, etc.) and should bring gloves, sun screen, a hat, and water. Home owners will often provide a snack to the workers at their home.

County Distributes Housing Fund Monies

Six Million Dollars Designated for Habitat Sarasota Projects
Last week county commissioners allocated revenues from the sale of the escheated lots in North Port. The funds had been set aside for affordable housing projects. In March, Habitat submitted a proposal in partnership with Goodwill Good Homes, Children First and other community groups. As of today, the county commission has awarded Habitat Sarasota five million dollars for the infrastructure needs of our Leonard Reid property. Also, one million dollars has been awarded to the Office of Housing and Community Development to be used for rehabilitating properties in Newtown. Operation ReHabitat will have access to those funds to continue home repair work for elderly home owners in Newtown.

Home Improvement & Furniture Outlets Exceed Annual Goal

Congratulations to Retail Operations Manager Larry Stephens and his team at the Habitat stores for surpassing their ambitious goal of $1.3 million in sales for FY 2007! Net proceeds from all sales go toward Habitat's mission of building homes with local families in need. The tremendous sales for this year were due in part to a phenomenal donation of 195 units of furniture from owners at the Longboat Key Club. To date, $163,000 has been brought in from that donation alone. Bottom line- The HIO (Home Improvement Outlet) and Furniture revenues saw a 25% increase over last year. To purchase items from the Longboat Key Club, visit our Scotty's warehouse location on Fridays and Saturdays through July at 325 School Ave. For other furniture, appliances, building supplies, bicycles and more, come to 2095 17th Street. M-F, 9:00-5:00.

Meet Our Staff

A couple of changes, hellos and goodbyes
Richard Curcio moved from managing our furniture store to managing our many volunteers. Laurie Colton moved from managing volunteers to directing our communication and PR efforts. Dean Shelton has joined our staff as director of all construction projects. Dean comes to us from Centex Homes. Our goal is 500 homes in 5 years. Dean will be busy! Dennis Shea is moving on after ably managing our books for several years. Before we say goodbye to him, he is training our new finance manager ... Amy Kern who comes to Habitat from Global Signal. She attended Southeast University in Lakeland and holds her masters from University of Phoenix. Welcome Amy!