What a year it's been! But through the challenges of the pandemic, we have continued to build alongside our partner family, our ReStore continues to play a pivotal role in our community, and we have begun planning for the next house we'll be building in Monroe!

To get a better idea of what we've been up to, I invite you to download our Fall Newsletter. Thank you for your support!

​Fall Newsletter can be found at this link.

I'm thrilled to let you know that our affiliate is one of 13 U.S. Habitat for Humanity affiliates to win a 2020 U.S. Habitat House Design Contest! Competing against more than 100 entries, we won the category of "Best Construction Partnership," for outstanding demonstration of connecting with other organizations to build homes and community. The award comes with a grant award of $2,000, which will be used to continue our homebuilding mission!

Junction City/Harrisburg/Monroe Habitat for Humanity encourages trades-based education. We've developed a partnership with the Junction City High School Career and Technical Education (CTE) instructor. For the past three years, the students in this class have built the bathroom vanities and garage cabinets for our homes.

The local National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) have taken a starring role in our annual Women Build events. Balanced Electric Inc., a local woman-owned and -operated company and NAIWIC member, has taken a lead role in our Women Build events. In 2019, we had 50 women on site, cutting studs for, constructing, squaring, sheathing, and standing the exterior walls. Balanced Electric ran a "Wiring Workshop" during the event, demystifying household electrical wiring.

Additionally, our affiliate and construction team work with the Local 280 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). We are blessed to have this group working on site. The local brings instructors and students to our site and they complete the rough wiring of our houses in a day. The instructors have shared with us that having the ability to expose the apprentices and journeymen to a real-world residential situation is a valuable part of their learning experience.

 Finally, I want to personally thank our construction volunteers for putting as much effort as they do into our mission. What they do makes a difference in building a future for our families and our community. Our volunteers and staff are the backbone of helping make the world a better place and I can't put into words how appreciative and proud I am to work with all of them!
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We have accomplished great things and there will be many more to come!

​A back yard where the kids can play. Space for a garden. A bedroom for each of the kids. These are just a few of the simple things that Billy and Tabi Stockstill and their family are looking forward to when their Habitat for Humanity home is completed later this summer.
 
The Stockstill family has lived in Junction City for almost nine years and purchasing a home with an affordable mortgage didn’t seem possible until the family applied to Habitat for Humanity in 2018. “After cutbacks at work, we had moved in with Tabi’s mom. Six people in a two-bedroom house is rough, but we would have been in a hard place without her generosity,” Billy explains. “When we were accepted into the Habitat program, we were pretty excited and eager to get started. It meant that the kids would have more room and a true home of their own.”
 
The family has partnered with Junction City/Harrisburg/Monroe Habitat for Humanity since early 2019. During that time, Billy and Tabi completed their budgeting and finance classes. Their volunteer family advocate, Deanna, says, “They now have a very good understanding of their finances. They will do well with making mortgage payments on their new home.” (Habitat for Humanity’s financial vision is to break the paycheck to paycheck cycle so many families face when their housing is unaffordable.)
 
In addition to money management classes, the family has completed well over 500 hours of “sweat equity.” The older children volunteered at the Habitat ReStore in Junction City, while Billy can be found almost every weekend building alongside the volunteers who are constructing the house. And all the children eagerly painted their bedrooms, choosing the colors that spoke to them. At Habitat for Humanity, sweat equity is a new homeowner investing in their home or one for another family. It’s not a form of payment, but an opportunity to work alongside volunteers who give their time to bring to life a family’s dream of owning a home.
 
Groundbreaking on the energy-efficient, 1040 square foot home was in early September 2019, and later that month, more than 60 women came together to raise the walls of the house in the annual Women Build event. In the year following, the house has been built with volunteers from throughout the communities, who build alongside the family. In addition to the volunteer builders, community donations and corporate in-kind donations are crucial to keeping the costs of building low, a key to creating a home with an affordable mortgage.
 
Dedication of the Stockstill house is scheduled for mid-September 2020, and the family will be presented with the keys to their home during the celebration. Billy and Tabi are excited for that day. “The people at Habitat are some of the kindest people we have come to know. To put this experience in a nutshell, it has been life changing and we are blessed to have a group of people like this helping others in need.” 

The Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation has selected Junction City/Harrisburg/Monroe Habitat for Humanity for a grant of $5,000.00. 

The Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians has a long and proud history of giving to the communities in which they live and work. In 1997 the Tribe formalized this tradition of philanthropy by establishing a grant making Foundation. Each year the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation makes grants to eligible non-profit organizations in communities in Coos, Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, and Lane counties. Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation awards are made separately from and in addition to regular philanthropic decisions made by the Cow Creek Tribal Board.

The award will be used to expand our Critical Home Repair Program, designed to eliminate sub-standard housing by assisting low-income homeowners, including veterans, seniors, and disabled homeowners with critical home repairs. Our Critical Home Repair Program's objectives are to provide roofing, roofing repairs, and external ADA (Americans with Disabilities) accessibility projects. Typical projects include roof replacements and accessibility ramps.

The Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation's belief that "Healthy bodies and healthy minds mean healthy communities" meshes perfectly with Habitat for Humanity's vision of a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.

By combining our grant funding with community donations and donations from local contractors, we will be able to expand our Critical Home Repair Program to even more of our neighbors in need. For more information about Junction City/Harrisburg/Monroe Habitat for Humanity's Critical Home Repair Program, see our website or call 541-998-9548.

When we first produced this spring's newsletter, we had no idea the curveball that the COVID-19 pandemic would throw. We are, however, still working hard on our mission, albeit having closed our doors to the public for the time being.

As always, we welcome your volunteer service, your financial support, even just a friendly note in our email! Thank you for being a part of our Habitat for Humanity family!

2019 was a year of growth and change. We faced many challenges, yet we enter 2020 with glad hearts and optimism. Our mission will be expanded to reach even more families and we're thankful for the support you've given us this year.

It's hard to believe that it's been just three short months since I joined the affiliate as Executive Director. We've had great events--the Blues Build, Women Build--and are hard at work on building our 25th home in Harrisburg. The ReStore was named Organization of the Year by the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce. And every day, our Habitat for Humanity message is reaching more of our neighbors in Junction City, Harrisburg, and Monroe. Check out our latest newsletter at this link and you'll see why I'm excited to be a part of this community!

With spring comes the busiest time of year for our Habitat for Humanity affiliate. You can read all about what's up in our latest newsletter. (If you'd like to be placed on a mail list for a paper copy or to be put on the email list to receive yours electronically, call the office at 541-998-9548!)

The staff and volunteers are busy planning our two major events for the affiliate. The 5th Annual Hope Builders Breakfast is happening on Wednesday, April 24 at 7:00 a.m. at Shadow Hills Country Club. This inspirational breakfast will present stories of past Habitat homebuyers and the difference that Habitat for Humanity made in their lives. You'll also have a chance to meet our two future homebuyers and hear how they've begun their Habitat journey. The breakfast is a free event, with the opportunity to make a sustaining donation to Habitat for Humanity.

The ReStore is celebrating its second anniversary with storewide discounts, giveaways, and a rollicking good time, April 11, 12, and 13, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We encourage you to stop in and see the new inventory that changes every day. We couldn't have made the ReStore a success without the support of our wonderful community!

Early bird tickets are on sale now for the 11th Annual Blues Build Benefit Concert being held on July 21, 2019 at beautiful Bennett Vineyards & Wine Company in Cheshire. Presented by Jerry's Home Improvement and sponsored by Bennett Vineyards, the event is our largest fundraiser of the year and offers a chance to enjoy great blues music, delicious food carts, and wonderful Bennett wines. Oh, and the chance to win a Hawaiian vacation with raffle tickets available only at the event. 

For more information about any of these events, we invite you to call or stop by. The office is open Tuesday-Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  The ReStore is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday-Saturday. Or give us a call at 541-998-9548!

The Fall 2018 edition of Framework, our community newsletter, is now available! The newsletter has all of the latest news from our affiliate, as well as upcoming events and opportunities.
Click this link to view an online version!