Disney's Give a Day, Get a Day Program

Beginning January 1, 2010, when you sign up to volunteer a day of service with Habitat for Humanity in Mobile County (and your service is completed and verified) you'll get one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland® theme park, FREE! The goal is to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service. Come volunteer with us and enjoy a trip to Disney to celebrate your service!  Click here for more info on Give a Day, Get a Disney Day.

 Homeowner Spotlight

Areatha Mosley and her one-year-old daughter Jaselynn lived in a 2-bedroom townhome where her rent was raised to the point that she could no longer afford to live there, even though she has been employed with the same company for three years and works full time.  Currently, the family lives with Areatha's grandmother until their Habitat home is finished.  Areatha applied for a Habitat home because she wanted to give her daughter stability in life - she wants Jaselynn to always have a place to live and no longer worry about moving from apartment to apartment.  Areatha's house is starting this coming Monday, so if you want to help out, call Jennifer at 251-476-7171 or email jtidwell@habitatmobile.org for group and individual opportunities.

Volunteer Group Spotlight

Collegiate Challenge is an alternate break program sponsored by Habitat for Humanity International. The program allows groups of high school and college students to travel to host sites and work with affiliates throughout the world.  Our featured group for January is a group of seniors from Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville, IL. Althoff gives all seniors two weeks during the school year to make a mission trip as part of a senior project.  These particular seniors and their parents have chosen to work with the affiliate here in Mobile, AL.  They arrived Monday evening and have been on site all week.  During the first week of service, they have been roofing and installing windows and doors on a house in Irvington. For their second week of service, they will start the Mosley house in Hillsdale on Monday, January 11. They hope to finish putting up the walls and trusses, and start on the roof before they leave at the end of the week.  When they return to school, they will present photos and share the experience with fellow students.  The participants are enjoying their experience, and are already planning on making a return trip to Mobile in the future.  A first time Habitat volunteer has stated that he plans to start volunteering at the local affiliate in Chicago upon his return home.  If your college or high school wants to participate in Collegiate Challenge, call Jennifer at 251-476-7171  or email jtidwell@habitatmobile.org for more information. 

December Volunteer Recap

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

The focus for January will be finishing the Grand Bay house and getting the houses in Irvington, Danita Circle and Tillman’s Corner roofed, sided and dried in.  In addition to getting those houses up to framing inspection level, a house in Hillsdale on Palmer Street will be framed and roofed.  We are getting ready for the many groups expected for this year’s Collegiate Challenge program.  Over 35 out-of-town groups have registered to work with us throughout the spring. One group is the Twin Cities Habitat affiliate. We have a great history with this group.  They have come down to work with us twice, once coming for a month and building four houses. They will be with us at the end of January, so if you have worked with them in the past, please come out to welcome them back to Mobile!  Call Jennifer at 251-476-7171 or send an email to jtidwell@habitatmobile.org to sign up to volunteer for any of these houses. 

2009 Recap

2009 was a busy year for HFHMC!  We started several new programs in 2009 that we are excited to say we will continue into the next year!  After a very rainy start, we are happy to say our Singles Build program is settling into a nice routine.  We have a Singles Build every quarter now.  Info about the January Singles Build is in this email! 

Another first for this affiliate was our Interfaith Build, which kicked off in September and ended in December.  This multi-faith effort was a huge success, pulling in 27 faith-based groups, some for the first time!  The happy homeowner family spent Christmas in their new home, thanks to the efforts of our sponsors and volunteers.  Look for information on the 2nd Annual Interfaith Build soon! 

Our YouthBuild partnership ended with a lovely graduation ceremony.  Many of the participants in the program received their GED and are now working in the Mobile area. 

We began a partnership with St. Paul's Episcopal School for volunteer service.  This program includes classroom time as well as worksite experience.  This house is still under construction and will be finished in March, 2010. 

In addition to all these wonderful projects, we committed to building green in 2009 using several different methods and materials to ensure sustainability and affordability.  We also started our Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which consists of buying foreclosures and rehabilitating them to provide even more safe, decent, and affordable housing.  Not only does this project help families achieve their dream of home ownership, it also improves neighborhoods by taking abandoned and blighted properties and turning them into homes. 

Volunteers worked 31,444 hours in 2009, building houses alongside 55 homeowner families. 

MLK Day

HFHMC will participate in the Annual King Day of Service hosted by Volunteer Mobile on January 18, 2010.  Several events are scheduled for that day, including an annual breakfast, workshops on voting, youth issues and volunteer leadership, an organized march, job and health fairs, a food drive and a health drive.  Habitat will set up a booth at a volunteer fair to provide information regarding family qualification, sponsoring and volunteering.  Attendance for the day is projected to be in the thousands, which gives us a great opportunity for outreach within the community.  To participate in any of the above mentioned events, call 433-4456 or email kjohnson@volunteermobile.org

Singles Build

Quarterly Singles Build is right around the corner!! If you're single or know someone who is, join us on Sat., Jan. 23, 2010 at 8 a.m. We've set aside a special day for the Singles of the Mobile Bay Area to come together and build relationships while building a house with Habitat for Humanity. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP   The location will be sent via email to those who sign up, so do it now!  We look forward to seeing you there!!

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