Many visitors to Habitat for Hope have noticed the large tree to the left of the driveway – namely, because it had a ladder running through the middle. Dubbed the “holy tree” by the Barnhart family (previous residents of the HFH property), it is over 100 years old, and although alive, was hollow in the center. Our friends from Timberline Tree & Lawn have a passion for old trees, and offered to create a solution that would save the tree for generations to come. Apparently, the bark of the tree will now grow over the placed wood – creating a new solid trunk for this old tree. Thanks so much Timberline for your service to the sustainability project at Habitat for Hope!

We are so excited to announce three new positions within Habitat for Hope!
To answer a few possible FAQ:
1. We are hiring an Assistant ED, Maintenance Director, and Family Care Coordinator. Read the posting for more information!
2. In the spirit of the rather rapid growth we’ve experienced in our first 5 years of work, we are simply beginning to specialize some roles within the jobs that our current staff works so hard to fill.
3. When these positions are hired and filled, Mark Horrocks will be free to focus on vision and direction of our overall project, including growth into new areas. Andy Gross has already begun to specialize his role into leadership within the Barn Raising Project – and additional freedom will allow him to focus on construction work for BRP.

We excited to meet our next team members who will join Habitat for Hope!

The following was written by our new volunteer coordinator, Diane Smith. Diane is walking a half-marathon this weekend and raising support for Habitat for Hope! She still needs donations to make her goal – you can donate using the link below.

Last week my youngest daughter broke her collar bone playing soccer. She typically has a pretty high pain tolerance but it broke my heart to watch her endure such pain while she waited to get an X-Ray. Then, a really cool thing happened. Her teammates started texting her and three of her teammates showed up to be with her while she waited. Even though I knew she was in some serious pain, she was able to smile and laugh because her friends were there for her.

About ten weeks ago I started training to walk a half-marathon to raise money for Habitat for Hope. For the record, unlike my daughter, I am not an athlete. And training to walk a half-marathon has been a challenge for my non-athlete self. However a really cool thing happened during my training. Friends have walked with me several times to keep me going. And, when I walk the half-marathon in Ohio this weekend, several friends are going to walk with me so I don’t have to walk alone.

We all need friends to walk with us, especially when we are enduring pain or hardship!! So many of our Habitat for Hope families are in Memphis without the physical support of family and friends. Our volunteers are friends that show up so these families don’t have to walk alone.

We had so much fun at Memphis’ first Park(ing) Day. Tucker and Mark came up with a really fun concept that we hope illustrated HFH at its best: healing through community, art, play, and love for others.

Our installation included the following: a conversation pit around the fire, a community art project, live music, and outdoor table tennis (straight from the red barn). At one point, a professional on his lunch break played ping-pong with a homeless man. It was neat to provide a space for this sort of interaction to occur. We had some great feedback on the interactive display, and we hope that just a few more people in Memphis learned more about Habitat for Hope and our work in this city.

Paint with us!

It's getting there...

Mayor AC Wharton and Mark with the LUVMUD5K rockers

Chris Williams and a new friend play table tennis

Finished!