Featured news

Hello Care-A-Vanners,

Wow, what a busy year! Not only have we set a new Care-A-Vanner record for build numbers and hours, but we celebrated our 25th anniversary with a build and rally in Springfield, Missouri. We also launched our new Competent Person Safety Training program, trained more Disaster Rebuild team members and expanded our role in Disaster Response across the country. No wonder I am tired!

Let me share with you some of our stats from fiscal year 2013-14 which just ended on June 30, 2014. We completed 194 builds this year. That is nearly double what we did two years ago. A total of 1,847 builders worked 118,092 hours. Translating those volunteer hours into dollars equals$2.66 million (www.independentsector.org). That's remarkable! But that is not all. We built in 72 cities in 33 states. We added 262 new RV Care-A-Vanners and our teams serviced 635 families. Your Care-A-Vanner desk staff volunteered 5,780 hours, equivalent to three full-time staff positions. All these numbers are records for our program.

The one number that I am not proud of that is also a record for our program, is the 68 builds I had to cancel because we did not have any builders signed up! Think of the impact we would have next year if we didn't cancel any builds. So please, help us with recruiting new Care-A-Vanners. Talk to your friends and your neighbors in campgrounds and get them involved in this terrific program.

For those of you who attended the 25th anniversary, you know that your efforts have been noticed by the senior management team including Jonathan Reckford. The Care-A-Vanners are back on the map but it is up to us to keep this going. I have faith that from the Care-A-Vanner desk staff to our Master Safety Trainers, Disaster Rebuild team and every Care-A-Vanner we will continue to have an increasing role at HFHI in our mission to end poverty housing.

Congratulations on your success this year and thank you for all your hard work!

Mary Vandeveld
RV Care-A-Vanner coordinator
[email protected]
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Special build signup Instructions for Leland, Miss:

Based on the recommendation from a fellow Care-A-Vanner, we are going to try a different system for the Leland, Mississippi, sign-up. If it works well, we will use the same system for all popular builds. We have two criteria in selecting a sign-up system for popular builds. Firstly, it is fair to all Care-A-Vanners, giving everyone an equal opportunity to get on the build. Second is how it affects the workload at the Care-A-Vanner desk.

This new system is going to be a lottery, giving everyone two weeks to get their name entered into the lottery. This way, if you are traveling, working or without internet access, you will have an equal opportunity to get on the build. After that two-week period, a computer program will be used to randomly select the "winners." Lu Tillotson will send the selected builders a link to actually register for the build and sign waivers. The lottery will also determine the order of the waitlist. There will be a time limit on completing your registration including your waiver. Instructions will be included in the acceptance email. Failure to complete your registration within the time limit will result in your removal from the build. We will give everyone a generous time period for sign-up. Only one entry per rig will be accepted.

The Leland build is GV15-0095 Leland, Miss., March 8-22, 2015. To sign up for Leland, send an email to Lu Tillotson at [email protected]. That email must be in by the end of the day on October 31, 2014. The drawing will be the week of November 3. Please do not send Lu an email asking where you are on the list. That just creates more work for Lu! Everyone will get an email from the desk either giving you the link to sign up for the build or telling you where you ended up on the waitlist. Once everyone who has won the lottery has registered themselves for the build, we will put the build on the internet and at that point anyone can sign up to be added to the bottom of the waitlist. If by chance the build did not fill by lottery, it will be available for regular registration.

We would welcome your comments now and after the Leland signup on what you think of this new system. We will also gauge how or if this has changed our workload at the Care-A-Vanner desk. This information will determine whether we continue this lottery system. Please send your comments to [email protected].

Welcome a new member to the Care-A-Vanner desk team:

Our growing program has growing staffing needs and we found ourselves a good one. Please join me in welcoming Angela Sayler to our team. Angela asked me a while ago if we had something at the Care-A-Vanner desk she could help with and I finally got a chance to meet with her in Traverse City, on a job site of course. She comes to us with a background in event planning (where was she last year when we were planning the 25th?) and as a volunteer coordinator at an affiliate. Angela is going to do special projects for us. That translates into helping me! Her first big project is going to be to help get affiliates scheduled for Competent Person Safety Training. Her previous experience with an affiliate will serve her well in her new capacity. That follows her first project of writing an article promoting the Care-A-Vanner program that we can shop around to different RV magazines. I am thrilled to have Angela on the team and we all look forward to working with her. Welcome aboard Angela.

Competent Person Safety Training:

We are seeking RV Care-A-Vanners who may have had safety training in a previous job, are experienced on a construction site, have experience as educators or who just have an interest in safety to become our next class of Master Safety Trainers. Our training course will be held March 30-April 3, 2015 in Americus, Georgia. RV sites will be provided for the training. This is another way to stay involved in the RV Care-A-Vanner program. If you are interested in talking the course, please contact Mary Vandeveld at [email protected].

Congratulations to Scott Hoag:

Scott Hoag, a longtime RV Care-A-Vanner along with his wife Nancy, is a member of the national Association of Retired Conservation Service Employees. He received the President's Award for Outstanding Community Service for his volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. The award is "In recognition of dedicated service by volunteering thousands of hours with Habitat for Humanity resulting in safe affordable homes for 60 families across the nation." Congratulations Scott!

Why We Build

Tie-Dying Habitat - By Ginger Rembold

We Come.
From north and south, east and west;
Democrats and Republicans.
Those in-between.
Catholics, Episcopalians,
Lutherans and Presbyterians.
And those in-between.
Young and young-at-heart.
White Collar, Blue Collar, Red Neck,
Yellow, Green, and Purple hues.
We come in a rainbow of many colors!

We Gather.
Around a blank shirt,
An empty lot.
A concrete slab.
We tie ourselves together
with a common purpose;
With a collective goal for decent, affordable housing;
Pleated and bound
in a universal desire for justice.

We Construct.
With a kaleidoscope of skills
We color and build;
The hue of one ability
overlapping another's tint of talent.
Blending, mixing, swirling,
We layer our gifts over time.
And wait to see
the end result of our efforts.

Eventually we witness what We Create:
The fashion of a beautiful garment;
The laughter of children skipping HOME from school;
Flowerbeds blossoming with pride;
The excitement of new homeowners
Filled with a future of hope.
More than beautiful shirts or houses,
We are artists creating a new tomorrow,
A new community.
And our colors have all
Been tie-dyed together in it.

Hours needed:

I need everyone to report their hours to the Care-A-Vanner desk. If you are on a build without a team leader, be sure that someone is assigned to keep the hours. If you are on a drop in, those hours count too. Affiliates, do not report your hours to the desk. I need hours worked and number of houses worked on. This data is very important in for grant applications and grant reporting. You can send them to [email protected].

Donations – Smile with Amazon
How many of us order from Amazon.com? Did you know that Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of eligible purchases to the charity of your choice? I hope that is Habitat for Humanity. All you have to do is log into your account through this portal: www.Smile.Amazon.com. Thanks for the tip, Greg!

Accomplishments

Remember: Send Mary Vandeveld photos of your builds and 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. I love to get homeowner stories. This is your newsletter, and we welcome your 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,

A heartfelt thank you goes out to our September team leaders. They are: Wayne Klemme; Ron and Jean Gratz; Richard and Shirley Harvey; Gary and Avis Norton; Susan Cooper; Roger and Linda Harvey; Robert and Pamela Garlett; Doug Augustine; Greg and Karen Harbage; Scotty Bowman; Bob Gillespie; Michael and Carol Vincent; and Dyana Todd.

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.

This month, I would like to say a few words about sexual harassment. Habitat for Humanity International has a "zero tolerance" policy for any inappropriate behavior. Most of us are familiar with the most obvious forms of harassment. An excerpt from the Standards of Behavior Partner and Volunteer Agreement defines sexual harassment as:

Any unwelcome sexual advance, comment, expressed or implied sexual demand, touch, joke, gesture or any other communication or conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, written or visual, by any person to another individual. Sexual harassment may be directed at members of the same or opposite sex and includes harassment based on sexual orientation.

However, there are other behaviors that may not strictly fit these criteria but can still be uncomfortable for the recipient. Back in the "good old days" it might have been okay to tell a woman she is pretty, beautiful, attractive, etc. On the work site, however, a homeowner, affiliate staff member or fellow team member would much rather be complimented on a job well done than on her looks. Even if only intended as a joke, the person on the receiving end may not know it or appreciate it, so it is best to refrain from those types of comments. Team leaders, please address any behavior on the part of a team member that appears to make another feel uncomfortable. This is especially important now. With more rehabs and A Brush with Kindness projects, Care-A-Vanners will be going into occupied homes and our behavior must be kept to the highest of standards. It only takes one careless or thoughtless comment to ruin the credibility of our program.

Finally, team leaders are needed for the following builds. If you are available and willing, please contact me.

November 2-9	Sebring, Florida
November 16-30	Tuscaloosa, Alabama
November 16-23	Sebring, Florida
November 30-Dec 14	New Smyrna Beach, Florida
December 7-21	Mandeville, Louisiana

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.

Disaster Response

West Liberty, Ky.: Our rebuild effort is almost complete. We have three homes to finish this summer and then West Liberty will be hosting regular Care-A-Vanner builds going forward. But we still need help finishing up those homes, so sign up for a build this fall and let's finish the job. Go to our website and sign up for a West Liberty DR build.
Superstorm Sandy: Recovery efforts from Sandy continue to be slow. Funding is the struggle for the affected affiliates. I have just listed a build in Toms River for next spring. 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 for Sandy recovery.
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. 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].
Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Tuscaloosa is still building homes for people who lost their housing unit in the 2011 tornado. Tuscaloosa loves the Care-A-Vanners and has builds listed throughout the year. It is a very nice place to work.

Featured Builds

Affiliates in need of RV Care-A-Vanner help:

GV14-0195 Thibodaux, Louisiana, Nov. 2, 2014: We need a couple more builders on this build. If you are in the area in November, please sign up for this build.

Safety corner

One of the most challenging safety issues I run across is actually setting up a safety item, scaffolding. One-story scaffolding is usually not a problem but when you need to set up two or three levels for townhouses it becomes a more challenging situation. The OSHA regulations require a competent person to oversee the assembly and disassembly of scaffolding. This usually will be the construction manager or someone who is trained in the assembly and disassembly of multiple levels of scaffold. If there is no one present on the job site with experience to oversee this, here are some helpful hints to minimize the risk.

Definitely have more than one person involved in the assembly. I will usually have one person on the ground and one person on a fully planked first level handing up components to a person on the second level. If three levels are necessary then you can stair-step the levels so you can pass scaffold components up or use a rope to raise scaffold components to the third or second level. Keep in mind that wherever you have people on the scaffold handing components up to the next level, fully deck that section. Most affiliates will not have sufficient planks to continue this method to fully plank a second or third level so you must start passing up planking or using a rope to pull remaining planks to the top level. Make sure the guard rail is installed on all levels if possible and definitely the top if there are not sufficient guard rail components for all levels.

Also, you must determine when it's time to put your extension ladder up to the third level and secure it to the scaffold frame, extending the ladder up 3 feet. Using the built-in ladder on the frames is challenging for three levels and a stable extension ladder is much safer for three levels of scaffold. If the scaffold has some movement that makes you uncomfortable, attach some guy wires to the home structure and the frames. The rule is that you don't exceed four times the width without a tie off, but there is nothing that says you can't if you feel the scaffold needs more stability. You can use regular tie wire for frames. There is usually plenty around a job site or job trailer.

Have a safe build.

Frank Peccia
Care-A-Vanner safety coordinator
[email protected]

Windows to Washington

Raise your hand if you've turned off the television in response to a report about politics recently, heaved an exasperated sigh during a radio talk show about partisan maneuvering in Washington or rolled your eyes while reading about your local legislature failing to support what seems like common-sense legislation. If your hand isn't up, you have the patience of Job - or perhaps you're not paying attention anymore, or just keeping your blood pressure in check.

We understand that tuning out the political shenanigans these days is awfully tempting and, with some of the current rough-and-tumble, you may question whether your faith allows you to be involved in such unruly politics. This month, as we celebrated World Habitat Day and witnessed people of a variety of faiths build houses alongside President and Mrs. Carter during the Carter Work Project, we're here to tell you that not only is being informed of and involved in politics consistent with religion, in many faiths, it's actually a duty.

As a Christian-based organization that welcomes all faiths to join us in ending poverty housing, we see many people drawn to Habitat for Humanity as a way to put their faith into action. But that action isn't limited to using a hammer; action means using our voices too, to speak for those whose voices aren't heard. In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah issues a call to "do justice" and "love mercy" while we "walk humbly" with our God. (Micah 6:8) In practice, that means actively seeking to forgive those, including ourselves, who may inadvertently support oppression of others, while aiming to ensure the laws and systems perpetuating that oppression are made just. Advocacy, which means to come to someone's aid and argue for the rights of those in need, is a large part of Micah's call.

History is full of examples of faith-based advocacy. Like the African church in ending apartheid in South Africa and the Latin American liberation theologians who call for social justice in their respective countries, Habitat for Humanity supporters recognize that advocacy is faith in action and an essential part of ending poverty housing. In less than four decades, Habitat for Humanity has built nearly 1 million homes, making a significant impact through building and housing improvement programs around the globe. As powerful as that work has been, some 1.6 billion people still lack adequate housing and another 100 million have no home at all. Addressing that level of need requires smart housing policies and systems that increase access to safe, decent, affordable housing.

That is where each and every one of us is called to add our voice. Lawmakers come from every walk of life and with myriad issues on their plates, they may not understand the vital role of housing in ending poverty. Habitat for Humanity advocates for just and fair housing policies and in these efforts, as in our building, we seek to put shelter on the hearts and minds of everyone – including policymakers – in order to see a world where everyone has a decent place to live. To realize that world, building with our hands is simply not enough. We must use our voices as well.

Across the country, we are seeing a serious lack of affordable housing. Given the connection between housing and health, educational outcomes, safety and general well-being, housing policy has a ripple effect throughout our communities. If we are to see smart housing policy, we must use our voices to let our lawmakers know that we care about housing and want them to make safe, decent, affordable housing a priority. Just as Jesus is Christians' advocate with God (e.g., 1 John 2:1-2), Esther was an advocate for her people, and Zakat, the obligatory charityin Islam, encourages social responsibility towards weaker members of society, we all should be advocates for the poor. In the words of Proverbs 31:8-9, we should: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute; speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."

We all know that our "neighbor" isn't just the person living next door; it includes people we know and those we don't. The commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves extends far down the street, across town, across the globe – and across the aisle. Around the world, our employees and volunteers practice a variety of faiths, from Buddhism to Judaism and Islam to Hinduism, all recognizing that the need for safe, decent, affordable housing is universal. Regardless of where you live and the faith you practice, we encourage you not to turn away from the political fray, as tempting as that may be at times. Instead, join us by getting involved – talk with your lawmakers and call for policies that will create a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Want to learn more? Take a look at our International Interfaith Advocacy Toolkit.

Collegiate Challenge and Care-A-Vanners

Summer has come and gone and we are fully into fall. George and I have enjoyed building in New England and in the Mid-Atlantic area over the last four months; now we are home for a while. I have been remiss in not thanking three Care-A-Vanners who did some mentoring in Alaska. So thanks go to Dan and Carolyn Banks and Bruce Benson, who helped supervise Global Village teams in Anchorage last summer. This was a special request by the Anchorage affiliate, which may be available again next summer.

There are still a few openings to help supervise Collegiate Challenge teams next March. At the time of this writing, the following builds were still available; remember these are just one week long, but you can sign up for as many weeks as you like.

Albany, Georgia the weeks of March 8 and March 22
Delray Beach, Florida the weeks of March 8, March 15 and March 22
Indiantown, Florida the week of March 22

Please consider helping out these affiliates with their student teams if you are comfortable overseeing college students during their spring break.

Diane Gravlee
Collegiate Challenge coordinator
[email protected]

Welcome new Care-A-Vanners

Emile and Linda Bergeron, Gary and Donna Braun, Mary Bridges, Sandra Conlon and Amy Latess, Bob and Kathy Cutman, Steve and Martha Dupee, Joseph Fields and Alma Elizalde de Fields, Ronald and Debbie Gatchell, Joe and Joan Griffin, Jim and Gloria Hurdle, John and Colleen Koehn, Terrie Lilley, Michael and Yvonne Maddox, Dana Miller, Allen Mitchener and Jody Sturtze, Frank Muller, Beverley Plummer, Mary Quinn, Ron Sheridan, Rickey and Joyce Smith, Michael Staniszewski and Rosalinde Wilson.

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.

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].