If you do not have Flash you can see them directly by clicking here.
Enjoy!

Hey, the food is good, the price is right, and it ’s for a good cause. Last year the Key Club served the food and there were a lot door prizes.

To All:

This is a final reminder of the celebration event to be held on Saturday, July 26 beginning at 9:00 A.M. on Wilson Ave. in Colerain Township.  Food and refreshments will be available.

As announced previously, this event will serve a dual purpose.  First it will be an expression of gratitude to the members of the Ohio Contractors Association – Southwestern Ohio Chapter, who donated their services to construct the road extension.  Secondly it will celebrate the groundbreaking of a Blitz Build for the first of seven homes to be built on this street.  The construction of this home is being sponsored by Allied Construction Industries (ACI) and its members for the Mueller family.  The house is scheduled to be completed in only 3 weeks!

This is an historic occasion for Millcreek Valley Habitat for Humanity.  Wilson Ave. is the largest building project ever undertaken by our Millcreek Valley affiliate in its 19 year history.  It all began in 2004 with a vision to build a “Habitat Community” on vacant land at the end of Wilson Ave. in Colerain Township.  Negotiations for the purchase of 8 individual 25′ wide lots continued for almost 2 years.  These lots were located on the north side of a proposed road extension that would be needed to accommodate the new homes.  We finally closed on this purchase in June 2006.  While conducting the purchase negotiations, we designed a 200′ extension to the existing street that would enable us to build these homes on the acquired sites.  The road extension included the installation of storm sewers, water, sewer and gas lines, asphalt pavement, curbs and sidewalks.

In July of 2006 we received a Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) Grant that was awarded to us by HUD and Habitat for Humanity International.  This Grant helped us finance the purchase of the lots, design of the street extension, legal fees and other miscellaneous costs we incurred along the way.

In June of 2007, we closed on the purchase of 6 additional 25′ lots on the south side of the proposed street extension. Road construction was started in the fall of 2007 and continued in the spring of 2008.

And here we are, four years and hundreds of volunteer hours later, preparing to build our first home.  We sincerely appreciate the assistance received from all the volunteers and companies, too numerous to name individually, that have graciously donated and will continue to donate their time and money to our mission of providing simple, affordable homes to God’s people in need on this Wilson Ave. project.

God’s blessings to all of you.

Gary Vidmar
MVHFH Board Member & Volunteer

In an extraordinary act of rebellion, the oldest affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International has filed suit to protest a new agreement that the nonprofit housing organization is imposing on its 1,600 local chapters.

The San Antonio affiliate, which built the first Habitat house, is seeking a court ruling that would allow it to continue to use the Habitat name without signing the agreement, which it contends gives the international organization too much power over its assets and operations.

“We have about $21 million in buildings and other tangible and intangible assets that we’ve acquired over 31 years on our own, and this agreement gives them unilateral and total control over us,” said Rene Diaz, chairman of the San Antonio Habitat’s board and a professional mediator. “If we fall out of favor, they could come in and take over everything and we couldn’t do a thing about it.”.

Read the rest of the article at New York Times: Habitat for Humanity Sued by Affiliate.

Millard will also autograph his recently-released biography which tells the "Habitat story." The book will be available for purchase at the dinner.

The evening promises to be an entertaining one. Musical entertainment will be provided by singer Scott Wesley Hawley. We will talk about our heroes from the past year, and our dreams for the upcoming year. There will even be door prizes.

We hope to see you on the 17th to help us celebrate, and to kick off an exciting new year.

Please let us know you are coming by calling Gabe Blumer at (513)761-4687. We will need to know of your plans by Thursday, November 15.

The suggested donation for the dinner is $10.

On the weekend of November 13, Dan Dallmer took a group of 14 college students from UC and Xavier down to Frakes, Kentucky to the Red Bird Mission. The trip was their second service trip this fall, and took place during semester breaks at both schools. While they were there, they roofed the 10,000 square foot roof of the Community gym. The gym is in use nearly every weekend with community events, and is “essential to the work of the Mission.” To accomplish their task, Dan’s group used shingles donated by Owens Corning Corporation. He will be taking 15-20 UC students back down to the Mission the weekend of November 10.