Thank you Winstead Farms!

Seems that trees grow rapidly – and it recently became apparent that the bermuda grass front yard at the HFH House wasn’t holding up. Bermuda grass needs lots of sun, and we’ve got an increasing amount of shade on our property! Over the past couple of days, we’ve had groups such as the Lausanne Collegate School 7th grade class come out to help us deconstruct the yard. And today, we received new zoysia sod from Winstead Turf Farms/Stockyard - and it was 95% donated! Thank you Winstead Farms, and thank you Andy, Tucker, Mark and all of our volunteers for helping us complete this project!

New Desk for Tucker and Becky

Habitat for Hope’s own master Craftsman, Andy Gross, recently completed a new desk for us in our downtown Memphis Condo. The desk is made of Birch Plywood and is finished with a few urethane coats.  Andy and I got the inspiration from our very own architecture firm, archimania.  archimania has used plywood throughout their studio.

 

Michigan State University Work Group

Last week, a group of college students from Michigan State University spent 4 hours helping with different projects on the Habitat for Hope property.  The students were participating in a spring break trip with a non-profit organization called Students Today Leaders Tommorow (STLF).  This particular group was hitting a few different cities in the south east and we were so excited when they decided to do a project with Habitat for Hope.  We had 25 college students visiting with us – including 5 international students from South Korea and China!  The group worked very hard and we got a lot of work done on the property with projects such as clearing the road for the Manager’s Cottage.  We are so thankful when groups like this come out to the HFH property.  More importantly, we are excited to share the Mission and Vision of Habitat for Hope with young leaders from all over the world.

Check out STLF’s website at www.stlf.net

We are Family

baby David Jones

We are so blessed to have a 4000 square foot home on the HFH property that serves multiple families every day! The home was built in 1993 and quite a bit of maintenance comes with its “commercial” use.  One of the biggest needs at the moment is to replace the roof shingles.  The roof leaks every time it rains and has left many stains in the ceiling sheetrock.  Recently we obtained 5 quotes from 5 different local roofing companies to tear off the old shingles and replace with new.  The estimates ranged from $6400 to $8700.  A little bit of sticker shock to say the least!  In this process I remembered a construction contractor named Rick handing me a business card nearly two years ago who had said, “call me if you ever need anything.”    This particular contractor attends church with former HFH family Matthew Jones and his family.  The Jones’s sweet son David passed away from a kidney disorder 6 months after birth.  So, I called Rick who told me to call Matthew.  Long story short, Matthew was immediately struck by the opportunity to help out HFH and has put together a team from two churches, including a few professional roofers, to come and provide labor to install a new roof.

We have free labor, what about the materials?  One of the biggest shingle and roofing material manufacturers is located right in Memphis.  I had tried calling there to get through to a manager of some kind.  I got forwarded to someone’s voicemail and never got a call back.  So, I drove to the plant and walked right in.  I ended up meeting the Senior Administrative Assistant who told me there was a really good chance we could receive a donation if I submitted something in writing.  I went home, wrote up a proposal, and submitted.

Although we have not gotten word back yet on whether the material donation, you can certainly see God moving in this need, as He always does.  Yes, we can still do ministry with some stains in the sheetrock; but stains turn to drips, and drips to floods of water.  Keeping things in top shape means we can focus on offering a safe, clean place for lodging, and a comfortable environment for sharing living space with hurting families with critically ill kids.  Even maintenance and property care is strongly interconnected to the overall ministry and work of HFH.  On top of all this, it will be great to share this project with Matthew, Lindsay, and their perfectly healthy newest son Levi David Jones.

Matthew, Lindsay and Levi Jones

Storage

What a great week for Habitat for Hope – we’ve stored much in our minds and hearts this week as we’ve welcomed our board of directors to Memphis. And College Park Christian Church made their third visit to HFH to help Andy build the coolest shed we’ve ever seen. We are grateful for the amazing friends in our lives!

Andy and Dave discussing design

CPCC men making final cuts on siding

Board member Dave Weinman with Andy and Mark