Featured news

Hello Care-A-Vanners,

Fall is upon us and many of us are making our winter plans. I have great news. We are offering our Competent Person Safety Training course for Care-A-Vanners who would like to become master safety trainers. This is a very important part of the RV Care-A-Vanner program as we have 1,550 affiliates that need safety training in order to come into compliance with the new OSHA regulations. Our master safety trainers who took the course in December 2013 have hit the road and are training affiliates across the country, but we need more help. The plan is to train 20 more master trainers in Americus, Georgia, March 30 through April 3, 2015. If you have a background from a previous job in safety, past experience as an educator or trainer or just have an interest in safety and would like more information, please contact me at [email protected] for an application.

Those Care-A-Vanners who attended the 25th Anniversary Build and Rally all took our General Safety Awareness course. My goal is to get all of our Care-A-Vanners through this course so I have asked our master trainers to give the course at any build that they are on or near. I had nothing but positive feedback from those who took it in Springfield. Our most important resource at Habitat for Humanity is our volunteers. We have an obligation to send them home from the job site safe and with smiles on their faces from the experience they just had and that includes all my Care-A-Vanners!

Safe travels everyone and thank you for all the work you are doing (safely) across the country to end poverty housing.

God bless,

Mary Vandeveld
RV Care-A-Vanner coordinator
[email protected]
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Mason, Texas build sign-up instructions:
These are very popular builds, so we want to give everyone the opportunity to get on the builds. Sign-up for Mason will be on Monday, September 29 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Both Lu and I will be available along with our support person in IT to handle any problems that might come up. We would suggest that you check your login ahead of time and be sure everything works. If you have trouble with the login or signup, send Lu an email at [email protected] ahead of the scheduled build posting time. On occasion, our computer system does not update right on the half hour as we expect, so be patient and continue to refresh your screen. Good luck and remember we have many builds out there that need our help and are great hosts! Here are the dates for Mason:

GV15-0089 Mason, TX Feb. 8-22, 2015
GV15-0090 Mason, TX Feb. 22 – March 15, 2015
GV15-0091 Mason, TX March 15-29, 2015
GV15-0092 Mason, TX March 29- April 19, 2015

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,

It is our favorite time to be home in Maine, between Labor Day and the beginning of fall foliage. The crowds are gone, the nights are cool for sleeping, the leaves are just starting to turn and the sky is a brilliant blue.

A hearty thank you goes out to our August team leaders. They are: Steve Sundstrom, Joe and Pamela Hortenstine; Bob Gillespie; Stephen and Jan Scully; Lisa Crawford; Mark Cotter; Jeffrey and Bonnie Miller; Bill and Claire Smith; and Clint and Kathy Norrell.

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.

Team leaders; please do not make changes to the team composition without contacting the Care-A-Vanner desk (Mary, Lu or myself) first. Some examples are allowing people to come for only one week of a two-week build or suggesting people come as a "drop-in", or going directly to the affiliate to make an extra space for someone who wants to be on the build. Many times, there is a wait list for a build that is listed as full. It is only fair to those on the wait list to be allowed to come for the full two weeks than to allow someone else to take up a spot and only be there one week. On builds that do not have a waiting list, we are happy to accommodate shorter commitments. Even if the affiliate is in agreement, they do not know the wait list situation, so please contact the desk first. Our rules will not please everybody, but the one thing we can do to make it fair to everyone is to be consistent. We ask for your cooperation with this.

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

October 5-19	Hobbs, NM
October 12-26	Thibodaux, LA
October 19-Nov 2	Tuscaloosa, AL (DR)
October 26-Nov 9	Goldsboro, NC
November 2-16	Thibodaux, LA
November 2-16	Macon, GA

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 CAV help:

Carneys Point, N.J. is doing a Ramp Build Blitz Oct 4-11. They need help and they need construction leadership. If you are available, please contact me at [email protected].

Belgrade, Mont.: We need some builders at GV14-0331 in Belgrade, Montana, Oct. 12, 2014. It is a beautiful place to build in the fall and the executive director there assured me winter would not come early to Belgrade. If you are available, please go to our build list and sign up.

Columbia Falls, Mont.: We also need some builders at GV14-0339 in Columbia Falls, Montana, Oct. 12, 2014. Columbia Falls will welcome drop-ins this fall. They have some houses that they need to get under roof before the snow flies.

Elizabethton, Tenn.: This is a new affiliate for us and they have two builds listed starting on Oct. 12 and Oct. 26, 2014. They already put an article in the local paper talking about Care-A-Vanners coming to town to help with their build program. Now all we have to do is show up! So go to our build list and sign up for Elizabethton, Tennessee.

Safety corner

During the summer build season I noted a number of incidents in my travels that will make good stories for the winter newsletters. Some of them are my own mistakes.

Scaffolding

Avoid not fully decking a level used as a walkway then working on it for a while. That open floor is a real hazard.
Use a step ladder or extension ladder to access the scaffold level on the ends if possible. This means there is not a big gap in the safety railing if someone falls down the roof.
Mudsills: Make sure that they are used under the base plates, especially in the winter. They are easy to make. Use old OSB and scrap 2-by-4, 6, 8 or 10. Make a sandwich of lumber between two layers of OSB. 12-inch by 12-inch is a good size.

Ladders

The proverbial leaning of a step against the side of a house. Does it really need to be leaned? Can't it be used open? I know it takes more time to set up, but is much safer. I always go for a Gorilla or Little Giant multi-function ladder if the affiliate has any. They are much sturdier on uneven ground
Making sure that the pointed end of the extension ladder feet are used in dirt, not the rubber feet.

Electrical

It's amazing how many male cord ends I find partially pulled away from the cord so the actual conductor wires are exposed. Most affiliates immediately fix these if you bring it to their attention. Make sure to take the cord out of service until it's fixed. Some Care-A-Vanners have cut the faulty ends off so it has to be fixed before it comes back to the job. I've never had or heard of an affiliate complaining when a Care-A-Vanner does this.

Have a good and safe fall season.

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

Windows to Washington

Please don't yawn at 20 years...

We know that some of you may be preparing to celebrate a golden anniversary. You've spent 50 years with someone you care about deeply, with whom you spend a great deal of time and for whom you want the best for forever and a day and then some, and we applaud you. Fifty years is a beautiful milestone – a sign of commitment and an opportunity to grow wiser (and dare we say better?) together.

So when we share that Habitat's National Service program celebrated its 20th anniversary on September 12, 2014, we hope that those of you who have already celebrated 20th, 30th, 40th, and even 50th anniversaries won't think "ho hum." Instead, we hope you'll help National Service make it to those major milestones, too!

AmeriCorps, which some people call "the domestic Peace Corps," offers challenging and rewarding full-time positions all across the U.S. Every year, AmeriCorps engages more than 75,000 Americans in intensive service at nonprofits like Habitat, as well as schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups across the country.

National Service programs give service members an opportunity to serve their nation and their communities by working and caring deeply about the partner families and communities that Habitat for Humanity serves. Members who serve with Habitat give at least 10 months – often much more – to building the capacity of Habitat affiliates. They want to see National Service programs last forever so that many generations of Americans will have the opportunity to serve their country in this manner.
Unfortunately, the future of these valuable programs is not guaranteed. Some in Congress would like to cut funding to the Corporation for National and Community Service , a federal agency (despite the word "Corporation" in its title) that oversees National Service programs that help Habitat affiliates serve partner families and support Habitat initiatives like the ReStores. As one of the original organizations to partner with CNCS twenty years ago, Habitat recognizes how AmeriCorps members increase our capacity to serve more families across the United States.

If National Service is going to make it to see that 50-year milestone, we need you to use your voice to tell Congress to commit to the programs that benefit service members, Habitat families and our nation as a whole. Ask your member of Congress to adequately fund CNCS in the FY15 budget. Make your voice heard today by signing this petition – and then sharing it with others!

Collegiate Challenge and Care-A-Vanners

There are still openings in March 2015 to mentor and assist students on builds during their spring break. Look for the CC after the city if you would like to help in this way. It is only a week commitment and you will find the students rewarding and energetic. You can, however, register for more than one week if you wish. Some new cities should be online soon and current openings at the time this was written are:

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

Diane Gravlee
Collegiate Challenge coordinator
[email protected]

Welcome new Care-A-Vanners

Jeffrey Ausborn, Malcom and Cindy Bearman, Gene Kolibab, August Kraemer, Jim and Nancy Pringle, Joseph and Edie Rogers, Jerry Spice and Barb Furkin.

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].

Donate to RV Care-A-Vanners
How to donate money or vehicles