Featured news
Hello fellow RV Care-A-Vanners,
You all remember the old adage, "there is no such thing as a free lunch." Well, that applies to our volunteer experience with Habitat for Humanity and I am not just talking about lunch. We have to pay for fuel, food, camping fees and many of us give a donation to the affiliate. Plus, we often have to pack our own lunch, but look at what we receive for that small amount of giving. We have many good friends that we acquire through our experience with the Care-A-Vanner program. I'd have to rank that up there near the top as far as rewards. We meet old friends and new friends on builds across the country (and 25th anniversary celebrations). We share fellowship on our builds, also known as morning devotions and happy hour, but what is really gratifying is working with a partner family to effect a life change for that family. Sharing in the emotion of a house dedication will give you a sense how you have helped lift a family from poverty just by providing safe, affordable housing. If you have never been to a Habitat Home dedication, that needs to be on your bucket list.
There was a recent article in Habitat World that talked about what is in a Habitat house and I am not talking 2-by-4s and sheetrock. Here is their list:
- Potential
- Security
- Optimism
- Opportunity
- Stability
- Health
This list needs no explanation; just read the testimonials of our homeowners.
The Webster dictionary defines volunteerism as follows: the practice of volunteering one's time or talents for charitable, educational or other worthwhile activities, especially in one's community.
You see, volunteerism is about giving and the return is realized by the partner families we aid by getting them into safe, decent, affordable housing. Volunteerism is not cheap, but it sure is rewarding.
Safe travels north and I hope to see you on a build soon
Mary Vandeveld
RV Care-A-Vanner coordinator
[email protected]
Facebook
In Memoriam of Jack Wolters by Mary Vandeveld
We have lost the founder of the RV Care-A-Vanner program. Jack Wolters passed away on June 10, 2014.
 |
|
Shortly after their retirement, Jack and his wife Lois, whom we lost in 2002, had the opportunity to hear Millard Fuller speak in North Carolina. That inspired them to travel to Americus, Georgia, where Jack worked building homes and Lois helped out in Millard's office. During a brainstorming session with Millard, Jack and Lois came up with the idea that some of their RV friends could help local affiliates with their building programs and in 1984, the Gypsies were formed. The name was changed to the RV Care-A-Vanners in 1989 and we were off and running.
As you know, in April we celebrated 25 years of service with a build and rally in Springfield, Missouri. I had the pleasure of visiting with Jack on the phone a few months before that event. He was not well enough to travel, but I wanted to make sure he knew that we would be honored to have him in attendance. As a result of that phone call I made to Jack, he sent me a packet of information with some of the early history of the Care-A-Vanners. That information is now safety tucked away in the RV Care-A-Vanner archives.
Please keep Jack and the Wolters family in your prayers and be thankful that what he and Lois started has grown into this wonderful program we call the RV Care-A-Vanners. Safe travels, Jack!
Accomplishments
Remember: Send Mary Vandeveld photos of your builds or newspaper articles. You have been lax lately and I want pictures! If you would like to submit anything to the newsletter — a good story, a new way to do things, a construction tip or an update on a build — please do. This includes our partner affiliates! This is your newsletter, and we welcome the input. Besides, you have got to be getting tired of hearing from only me! Send your contributions to [email protected]. I want to hear from all of you!
Team leader corner
Hello from Maine, where everything is green from abundant rain but we are ready for some sun. I am not complaining, however. I do realize there are many places in the country (and world) that desperately need rain.
Thank you to our June team leaders. They are: Clint and Kathy Norrell; Bernie and Audrey Ussery; Tom and Judy Fox; Rick and Paula Huls; Bob Gillespie; Ron and Jean Gratz; Larry and Margot Durham; Jerry and Lori McHugh; Jeff and Judy Rothwell; and Roberta Duncan and Dave McRae;
Remember, if you've been thinking about becoming a team leader but are not sure what's involved, contact me at [email protected] and I will send you the guidelines. Lack of construction experience is not a reason to pass on being a team leader. Organization and people skills are what are important. So, don't forget to check the "team leader interest" box on your registration if you are willing to lead the build
I had some thoughtful responses to my last column about "we are there to serve the affiliate." One reminder is that this does not necessarily apply where safety is concerned. No one should ever feel pushed to do something they feel is unsafe. Individuals or team leaders can decline a job if they feel it is unsafe.
Reminder: Please send corrections to the roster to either Lu or myself. Don't make yourself crazy trying to make the changes within the roster. It will be easier for you, and us, if you just send an email with the changes listed. At this time, only one email per rig can be listed. Also, only two phone numbers can be listed, and it can be any combination of cell and/or home.
Finally, team leaders are needed for the following builds. If you are available and willing, please contact me.
- July 20-August 3 Ashton, Idaho
- August 3-17 Billings, Montana
- August 3-18 Sheridan, Wyoming
- August10-24 Durango, Colorado
- August 24-September 7 Marquette, Michigan
Thank you and happy hammering!
Brenda Sawyer
Team leader coordinator
[email protected]
Spread the word
Send your RV friends a Care-A-Vanner brochure about this wonderful mission by just pasting this link into an email or just print out and give to fellow RVers in campgrounds.
Job opportunity: Yes, that dirty word "job," but this job is with Habitat for Humanity International, specifically the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. They are looking for someone to launch their Aging in Place program which focuses on affiliates' work with adults 65 years of age and older to serve them more effectively. Now I know Care-A-Vanners are not experienced with the "aging in place" concept as we are always on the move, but the 65 years and older part we have down pat! If you are interested, contact Mary Vandeveld at [email protected] and I will send you the job description.
Disaster Response
- West Liberty, Ky.: West Liberty lost 500 housing units, many of them low-income, in a March 2, 2011 tornado. The latest news from West Liberty is that they have hired another construction supervisor for this year. That means we will not have to have house leaders on every build as we have done in the past. I have posted the 2014 builds in West Liberty and they are on our website. Sign up now so we can finish the mission we started. The tornado rebuild should be complete in the 2014 build season, and then we will offer regular Care-A-Vanner builds in support of the Morehead affiliate and their goal of building two to four houses a year. In 2013, our teams have helped get 14 tornado affected families into homes. Job well done! Now let us sign up for those 2014 builds and get this job finished!
- Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Tuscaloosa is rebuilding following the massive tornado in 2011. I have listed the Tuscaloosa builds on our website through the entire year. No experience is required to work at Tuscaloosa. They have a great construction team there and it is a very nice place to work. Some have asked why we are still building in Tuscaloosa. The answer is simple; there are still people who lost their housing units in the 2011 tornado who are not in Habitat homes yet. Our job is not finished there yet, so sign up for Tuscaloosa and give some families that hand up that they need.
- Superstorm Sandy: There is still a lot of work to be done in the Northeast. I expect to be listing builds in the Sandy affected areas soon, so watch the website for updates. Toms River listed a build in June and I expect they will need more help as the summer goes on. If you would like to be on my email list for Sandy recovery, please send a note to [email protected]. I will notify Care-A-Vanners on my list first about build opportunities there.
- Colorado 2013 floods: We had six affiliates in the flood affected areas in Colorado. There was a huge need for low-income housing in the area with a rental vacancy rate of 1 percent before the floods. There were also some mobile home parks that were destroyed in the floods. The six affiliates are working closely with the Colorado State Support Organization and they already have a plan to work together and rebuild 100 new construction homes and do 100 Critical Home Repairs. We are starting our first project in Lyons, Colorado, by sending six disaster rebuild team members as house leaders. They just arrived and are starting work. At this time, we are not sending Care-A-Vanner teams, but I expect that will follow at some point. I recently listed a build in Loveland, Colorado, in September. This is not a flood recovery build, although families in Loveland's service area were affected. This build will give the affiliate a chance to see how much Care-A-Vanners can help in the future. I have an email list for the Colorado flood rebuild effort, so if you would like to be on the list, send me a note to [email protected].
Featured Builds
Affiliates in need:
Carneys Point, New Jersey is looking for help in June, July and August. I get lots of requests for builds on the East coast, so let's fill these builds!
North Platte, Nebraska: North Platte does a build with us every year. This year they are scheduled for the June 29 and we need people to sign up. This affiliate depends on CAV help to get their build done, so go to our build list and sign up today!
Sioux Falls, South Dakota: Sioux Falls is back with us having just listed a build in August. Let's give them a warm welcome back to the Care-A-Vanner program by filling their build!
Safety corner
As I traveled around this year, I noticed more and more affiliates are using Hardie Board. I asked eHow.com "what is Hardie Board?" The answer: "Hardie Board is a siding made of fiber cement. Cement is combined with sand, water and cellulose wood fibers." I noticed these same affiliates had very different ideas about how to safely work with the siding, so I did some research; mainly at http://www.jameshardie.com/dealer/helpSupport_faqs.shtm
 |
|
Hardie Board contains silica, a common ingredient in most products including cement-based underlayment materials such as Hardie Board. In an intact state, it does not pose a silica risk. However, when cut, drilled or abraded during installation, the resulting smaller, silica-containing dust can pose a potential health hazard. Breathing excessive amounts of silica dust can cause a disabling and potentially fatal lung disease called silicosis, and has been linked with other diseases.
The website advises the following during installation or handling: (1) work in outdoor areas with ample ventilation; (2) use fiber cement shears for cutting or, where not feasible, use a HardieBlade® saw blade and dust-reducing circular saw attached to a HEPA vacuum; (3) warn others in the immediate area; (4) wear a properly-fitted, NIOSH-approved dust mask or respirator (e.g. N-95). (5) During clean-up, use HEPA vacuums or wet cleanup methods - never dry sweep.
NEVER use high speed power tools (e.g. circular saws, grinders, etc) to cut James Hardie products indoors as they may generate excessive respirable silica dust
| TOOL RATING CATEGORY | CUTTING METHOD |
| BEST | HANDHELD SHEARS PLATFORM SHEARS SCORE AND SNAP |
| BETTER | DUST-REDUCING SAWS WITH HARDIEBLADE SAW BLADE COUPLED WITH HEPA VACUUM EXTRACTION |
| GOOD | DUST-REDUCING SAWS WITH HARDIEBLADE SAW BLADE |
Submitted by: Lisa Crawford, master safety trainer
Frank Peccia
Care-A-Vanner safety coordinator
[email protected]
Windows to Washington
Where is this "Post 2015?"
If you hear the term "Post-2015" out of context, you might think we're talking about a trail marker that comes between the 2014th and 2016th posts. I can even picture a hiker mopping her brow and remarking, "Wow, that hill just before post 2015 – it's a doozy!"
But that's not quite right. While Habitat for Humanity is aiming to blaze a trail, it's one that has nothing to do with Yellowstone Park or the Appalachian Trail and everything to do with making housing a priority in each and every country around the world. How? By doing something that you can't do as a hiker: starting at the top. In this context, the summit is the United Nations.
The UN, the international organization that grew from President Franklin D. Roosevelt post-WWII League of Nations initiative, leads the process that sets the global development agenda. In 2000, countries from around the world came together at the Millennium Summit (hiking boots optional) to establish the Millennium Development Goals, which are set to expire next year in 2015, so the focus now for the more than 180 countries at the table, including the United States, is the Post-2015 agenda. That agenda influences the way that those 180 countries – as well as others – form their policy priorities and set about trying to end poverty among their citizens in the decades ahead.
As you know, there are many important challenges facing the world these days and thus many opinions about what should be considered a "priority." For example, health, education, gender equality and productive use of our environmental resources are all important considerations, but there's one issue that intersects with all of those factors: housing. As research shows (and Habitat knows from experience), adequate housing has a positive impact on health, provides a clean place to study, promotes safety and financial stability which, in turn, support of gender equality, and – when planned wisely – is a smart use of resources. Furthermore, with an increasing number of people moving to cities and slum populations continuing to swell around the world, sustainable cities in general and adequate housing in particular simply must be a priority in the next global agenda.
It won't surprise you to hear that various political interests at play can make for slight shifts in the proposed agenda – like lumping land and property into "productive resources," for example, instead of recognizing that housing and shelter, along with sustainable cities, deserve to stand alone as clear priorities. Those slight shifts – like going slightly off the trail – would mean we end up far from our target destination: a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Add your voice today to let the UN know you want housing to be a priority around the world. If you'd like to know more about Habitat's work on Post-2015, including our role at the World Urban Forum in Medellín, Colombia, earlier this year, you'll enjoy this piece by Liz Blake, our general counsel and senior vice president for advocacy.
Collegiate Challenge and Care-A-Vanners
Look for the builds on the build listing with a CC after the city to help supervise college students for affiliates with little supervisory staff. They are requesting anywhere from one to three rigs at the most and builds are just a week long. These are specific builds where we are asked to supervise the students. This is a great way to spend a week building in late February through early April.
Another thing that has come up is the fact that on many regular Care-A-Vanner builds scheduled in the month of March, you may also run into college students, especially if the build is in a southern state. Affiliates often request a full two-week Care-A-Vanner team at the same time they request students. These are not designated as CC builds on the list because they are two weeks long, require a team leader and act in all other ways as a regular Care-A-Vanner build. But you may be working side by side with students as well. If this is a concern or question for you, you can call an affiliate directly and ask if students will be present during the designated build dates. On the other hand, it is a nice way to be involved in working with these energetic and talented young people.
Diane Gravlee
Collegiate Challenge coordinator
[email protected]
Welcome new Care-A-Vanners
Susan Albright, Steve and Mary Blackledge, Linda Demary, Bill and Debra Dorris, Kathleen Karstaedt, Kenneth Krueger and Anne Christman, Alan Licht and Erlinda Shery, Rene and Mira Meier, William and Barbara Scofield, David and Penny Timmons, Mary and Randy Tinder, John and Maudeen Wachsmith, Kirk Woelfe.
Our apologies if we have included a seasoned Care-A-Vanner, or if this is duplication. Habitat for Humanity is grateful for the work that you do!
Questions, cancellations or concerns?
1-800-HABITAT, ext. 7534
1-229-410-7534 (direct)
[email protected]
RV Care-A-Vanner staff contact info
Register for a build online
Step-by-step instructions
Roster updates
Please email updated roster information to [email protected] or [email protected] or call 1-229-410-7534. begin_of_the_skype_highlighting
Report Care-A-Vanner hours
Help us keep track of total volunteer hours contributed, and partner families served. Please email these stats from your drop-in or ongoing builds to [email protected].
Donate to RV Care-A-Vanners
How to donate money or vehicles
You are subscribed to %%list.name%% as %%emailaddr%%.
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to %%email.unsub%%