GoodNEWS

A monthly newsletter prepared for volunteers, prayer partners, contributors, and all who seek to provide decent, affordable housing by partnering with Seattle families in need--distributed by the UPC/Habitat for Humanity Partnership, a lay ministry of UPC's Urban and Global Missions.

On January 23rd, UPC/Habitat had its first "Habitat Sunday" at UPC. Harold Sheley kicked off the witness spot at each service, which included a video showing UPC members working at the Othello Place site and describing their experiences volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. After each service, volunteers staffed the gallery, answering questions, distributing cookies, and encouraging both new and experienced volunteers to sign up for volunteer dates using a gallery-wide calendar with colorful sign-up tags and photographs from all three construction sites. The sign-up calendar was staffed the following week as well.

We are delighted to report that Habitat Sunday was a huge success! Throughout the day we had several great conversations with enthusiastic folks interested in getting involved. The subsequent training session in February had a record attendance, filling all the available seats with excited volunteers, and this past week's training session was also very well attended. Even better, our sign-ups for the month of February were stronger than they'd ever been during the construction at the New Holly site. And last, but not least, we've had a number of enthusiastic volunteers bringing lunches to the worksite on Saturdays, which has provided a wonderful meal break for the rest of the team.

So, a huge thanks to all of you who helped make Habitat Sunday a success -- new volunteers who took the opportunity to get involved, old volunteers who got reinvigorated, makers of lunches, financial contributors, and those who helped organize the day's activities alike. Without each of you, we could not be building this home so effectively. We hope that you'll continue to be involved in and invigorated by this ministry, and will let us know any ideas you have for making it more effective. We hope to make Habitat Sunday an annual tradition, and after this year's enthusiastic response, it seems like it should be very possible.

Speaking of lunches, we are hoping to have enough people involved in this aspect of the ministry that we can continue to provide lunches for our volunteers throughout the Othello Place construction period. If you would be interested in providing a lunch for a Saturday team of 10 once a month, once a year, or even just one time, please contact Marcia Larson at mkl.marciaklarson@verizon.net.

We are excited to introduce our partner family for the current build at Othello Place. They are Abraha Kidane (father), Leteberhan Resat (mother), and their two sons, Fitsum (22) and Mulu (19). Some time ago, Abraha and Leteberhan escaped a civil war in Eritrea and moved to Sudan, where both boys were born. Then, in 1991, they came to the United States. Abraha is a tailor by training, Fitsum is a senior at UW majoring in Computer Science, and Mulu works with their local youth center. We'll hope to tell you more about this great family in future newsletters as we get to know them better. For the time being, keep an eye out for them at the worksite, and give them an especially warm introduction if you get the chance to meet them--we're excited to be working alongside them!

Seeking the Peace of the City was a command given by God to His people through the prophet Jeremiah. Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount shed great light on this command, and in the scripture he says let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16). I rejoice at the many lights shed through the ministering members in the Habitat for Humanity project.

Again, a special thanks to the leadership of our Habitat on the third house, and a thanks to each of those that have responded to this call to serve as ministering members in the Othello Project. What a blessing it is to families who would not otherwise be able to afford housing in these times. The Habitat project really is a powerful statement towards seeking the welfare of the city - which means caring for those who abide in the city. It has been a bright light to families who will dwell in these lovely, affordable houses, as well as to the Seattle community at large.

Harambe in Christ,
Pastor Allen

It's amazing to realize how much has been accomplished at Othello Place since our last newsletter in November. The basements for both the six-plex and the two single-family houses have been dug, the foundations have been poured and their formings stripped, the first floor's walls have been completed, and the second floor's external walls have just been put up. Don't worry, though, there's still plenty of work left to do.

The following are some photos from the past few months at the site, taken by Harold Sheley and Ron Thompson. Clicking the pictures should take you to a larger version.

Once again, we want to thank everyone for the great turnout we've had in recent weeks, and for the great signups that are already logged for the coming weeks. Your response has been terrific, and we're grateful for the enthusiasm.

This is a quick reminder to use the volunteer hub website to reserve a spot for dates that you wish to volunteer. As you probably know, UPC is responsible for filling 5 slots each Friday and 10 slots each Saturday. It's important that we don't exceed this allotment in order to keep from overwhelming the Habitat for Humanity staff and our partner organizations who are sending their own volunteers.

Here's a quick refresher on how to use the volunteer hub website if you don't remember:

1. Point your web browser at www.volunteerhub.com

2. Enter your email address and password in the "Member Login" section at the upper-left of the page

3. If you've made "Habitat at University Presbyterian Church" one of your favorite organizations, you'll find it listed at the bottom of the left-hand column in the next screen. Click on it.

4. If it's not listed as one of your favorites, click "Find an Organization" at the top of the left-hand column, scroll way down to the bottom (UPC's Habitat entry is about the fourth from the bottom), and click it. To add it to your favorites, click the checkbox labeled "make this organization one of my favorites" at the bottom of the next page and then click "Update User Settings"

5. In either case, you should now be on a page listing available dates in both a calendar and a list form. Using the list-based form has the slight advantage that it will indicate to the left of each entry whether that date is still available ("Sign up Now!") or filled ("Event Full"). At the very right, you can also see how many slots are still available (for example, "8/10" indicates that 8 of our 10 Saturday slots have been spoken for).

6. Sign up either by clicking on the "Sign up now!" link in the list-based form, or by clicking on the "Volunteer Work Day" link in the calendar format.

7. This will take you to a confirmation page where you can double-check your decision. If everything looks correct, click "proceed with registration!" to lock your date in.

8. If for any reason you need to cancel your volunteer date, please contact Julie at junulto@rei.com

• March 10 - Safety and Information Meeting @ 7pm
• March 20 - Safety and Information Meeting @ 1pm
• April 7 - Safety and Information Meeting @ 7pm
• April 17 - Safety and Information Meeting @ 1pm

This newsletter is mailed to UPC/Habitat's volunteers, donors, and supporters. Unfortunately, we don't always read your email addresses correctly when entering them into our database, so if you are reading this on the website but are not receiving notice of updates by email and would like to, send your request to brad@drizzle.com, mentioning "Habitat" in your subject line (to separate it from all the spam). Similarly, if you would like to change your email address, or are receiving our mailings and would like to stop getting them, please just let me know at the address above (again, being sure to put "Habitat" in your subject line).