Issue 49 - August 2011

A HAbiTAT FOR HUMAniTy OF SAn AnTOniO PUbliCATiOn= ISSue 49=AuGuSt 2011
VISION
“Transforming lives through a hand up, and not a hand out”
Lunch Crew A ‘Family Affair’
For Jennifer Brierly and her family,
“service” is something that comes naturally.
“Our family has always volunteered.
Since my husband was active duty Army
(Greg, who retired in 2010), our children were born into a service family,”
Mrs. Brierly explained.
So when her son, Chris who volunteers for various organizations and will
be a junior at Johnson High School in
the fall, approached her about volunteering for Habitat for Humanity of San
Antonio, she knew it would be a family
affair.
“Volunteering as a family helps us always remember how blessed and fortunate we are. I don’t want any of us to
To volunteer:
Call Volunteer Services
at 210-223-5203
ever take that for granted. We all feel
very strongly about giving back,” she explained.
The Brierly family chose to offer their
service on the HFHSA lunch crews.
“One of the reasons we picked the
lunch crew is because we could volunteer on a Saturday morning as family.
We get to pick the date so we are able to
try and coordinate it around our schedule. Even if everyone can’t come out
See FAMILY AFFAIr ................Page 3
DREAM COME TRUE – Arturo and
Leticia Guerrero stand outside their
Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio
home.
Family Pays Off Home
Paying off their Habitat home early
was a dream-come-true for homeowners Arturo and Leticia Guerrero.
“We were saving money and then
[when we got] our income tax I told
him, ‘let’s just get rid of this [the mortSee FAMILY .............................Page 2
Habitat Co-Founder Put His Faith Into Action
Habitat
for
Humanity
of
San
Antonio
owes its success
to many, many
people – far too
many to list
here. But, there
are some who
can’t go without
special mention.
Bill Lytle
We were saddened in May to learn of the death of one
of our most beloved supporters, someone
who helped start the mission of HFHSA in
1976 – our co-founder, Rev. William P.
“Bill” Lytle. Without Bill Lytle and his late
wife, Faith, we would not be here. It’s simple. The Lytles put their faith into action
and brought the idea of partnership hous-
“He built a home
more lasting than
timber and stone - its
foundation, his
strength, its walls, his
integrity, its roof, his
sheltering love.”
ing to San Antonio. Now more than 700
San Antonio families in need own their
own homes because of the love of the Lytles.
At 87, we feel he left us way too soon. It’s
hard to imagine a world without the generosity and commitment of the Lytles, but
HFHSA will continue its mission as a way
to celebrate their lifetime of commitment
President’s Corner
to helping others
as Jesus would
have them do.
Kenneth
L.
Gladish, Phd.,
the
president
and CEO of The
Seton FoundaDennis L. Bechhold
tions recently addressed a group of non-profits in San
Antonio. During his address, he listed
some elements of heroism. They are: dedication to a great cause, “other centeredness,” authenticity, humility, courage and
generosity
See LYtLe........................................Page 2
PAGE 2
VISION
AUGUST 2011
Summer Brings A Greater Need In Home Centers
The dog days are still here!
Fortunately all three of our Habitat
Home Centers are air conditioned! Many
of you might remember that years ago
our original store on Probandt Street was
not air conditioned, and the summer
months were “difficult” to say the least.
Those of us who were here in the olden
days are always reminding the newer employees how unpleasant the work environment was (and how we used to walk
five miles to school in the snow…yeah,
yeah, yeah!). Seriously though, we do experience a drop in business and donations in the summer months.
A combination of people out of town, or
having additional childcare expenses
with school out, or higher summer gas
prices, or
simply
SUMMER SUPPORT
not being
nEEDED –
as projectHabitat Home Centers
minded in
see less traffic and
the heat
donations during the
we always
summer months
see less
activity in
the stores from June thru August than we
do in the spring, fall or even winter. So
it’s really this time of year that we need
our supporters more than ever.
If you are aware of opportunities for
merchandise donations from business
closings, remodeling salvage, garage sale
leftovers or any other instance where
reusable home improvement goods
Lytle Was A Perfect Portrait Of A Hero
LYtLe.....................................From page 1
All of these, describe the Rev. Lytle. In
fact, this list of characteristics is not long
enough to describe such a great man. We
think he is the perfect portrait of a hero.
He was most certainly dedicated to a
great cause – the mission of eliminating
substandard housing in our community
and ensuring that as many people as possible have a chance to own their own
home.
In stark contrast to self-centeredness,
“other centeredness” is the ability to think
of others. Bill Lytle did this every day, not
only in his work with Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio, but in his tenure as
pastor of San Antonio’s Madison Square
Presbyterian Church and in his work with
a multitude of other ministries and organizations he lent his support to. He was an
amazing man.
Authenticity and humility. From his
role as moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA to the
many other groups he held major roles in,
his gracious and humble manner was
noted by all who knew him.
He had courage. He had the courage
and conviction to take insurmountable
obstacles such as San Antonio’s high rate
of poverty housing head on.
And finally, only a person with extreme
FiTTinG MEMORiAl - the San Antonio Presbyterian Cluster built the “Faith
Lytle House” in 2006. One will be built in
her husband’s memory this fall.
generosity could spend his life giving to
others the way the Bill Lytle did.
As HFHSA celebrates its 35th year this
year, the completion of Palo Alto — our
largest-scale community to date — and
look forward to starting our newest community, Coleman Ridge, we can’t do so
without thinking of Bill Lytle, because
without he and Faith’s dedication to our
community and our cause, we could not
have accomplished so much.
We have been honored and blessed to
have worked alongside him. A home in
our community, Coleman Ridge, will be
built in his memory this fall.
might otherwise be thrown away, please
contact any of our three home centers
and we will follow up on that lead.
We rely heavily on such phone calls to
produce merchandise for our stores and
thus cash for our homebuilding program.
All three stores offer pick up service.
Additionally, we have our Wrecking
Crew that “has tools, will travel” to actually remove reusable fixtures such as cabinets, doors, light fixtures, working
appliances and the like from renovation
projects before the remodeling contractor begins -- FREE of charge.
FAMILY .................................From page 1
gage]’,” said Mrs. Guerrero, smiling at her
husband.
As for how it feels to own their home,
both Guerreros responded — “great.”
“We are just so glad that Habitat gave us
this opportunity way back,” Mrs. Guerrero
said.
The Guerreros partnered with Habitat
for Humanity of San Antonio in 1996 to
build their home in the Plaza Florencia
neighborhood. The home was the 90th
home built by HFHSA.
“It was just so exciting,” Mrs. Guerrero
said. “Seeing it [the house] go from the
bottom up was amazing.”
Both agree that the sweat equity seemed
like a daunting task at first, but now that
they have lived in their home for 15 years,
they realize what a blessing it was.
“It was just a good experience…you get
to know your neighbors before you move
in,” she said. And what has followed, say
the parents of five ranging in age from 12
to 25, has been years of happy memories
in their Habitat home.
“They [their children] had somewhere to
call home. It is their own home with their
own rooms,” said Mrs. Guerrero. “They
could go out and play. It was a much better environment for them.”
The Guerreros applied for a Habitat
home at the insistence of Mr. Guerrero’s
mother and now say they are glad they
did.
“The process was something else. And
the best part is the interest free mortgage,”
she said it was the affordable payments
that allowed them to save and pay their
home off early.
AUGUST 2011
VISION
PAGE 3
Palo Alto Neighborhood Is Now Complete
282 Families Call Subdivision Home
Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio’s Palo Alto Community is now complete.
“We are thrilled with this milestone,”
said Dennis L. Bechhold, HFHSA President and CEO.
Construction on the 282-home subdivision began in 2005 and officially concluded in June with dedication of the
final seven homes built in the neighborhood.
Construction will begin in HFHSA’s
newest community, Coleman Ridge, in
August. The new neighborhood is located near the corner of Old Pearsall
Road and Loop 410.
Once complete, the development will
house 185 low-income families.
Volunteers are needed to begin construction in August. To sign up, call
Volunteer Services at 210-223-5203.,
Ext. 160.
CHAMPION VOLUNTEERS
HOUSE DEDiCATiOn – elvira Morales
speaks to volunteers and supporters during
the June house dedication in the Palo Alto
Community as her son, Isra, looks on. Her
home was one of the final seven completed
in the community.
FAMILY AFFAIr .............From page 1
and serve, everyone helps in the prep
and clean up,” Mrs. Brierly added, explaining that with a son in high school
and a daughter (Sarah, a junior at the
University
of Texas at
Austin) in
college,
--Jennifer Brierly
schedules
are often
hard to coordinate.
“Another thing we really like about the
program is that the family who will live
in the home helps build it. That way, it is
like the community working together and
helping each other … not just giving
someone a home,” she continued. “It’s
not a ‘welfare program.’ It’s people helping other people.”
Volunteers are currently needed to provide, serve and prepare food on the lunch
crews, and there’s also an urgent need for
volunteers to help on the construction
crews throughout August.
“We are starting a brand new neighborhood and have many, many needs,” said
Sarah Arredondo, HFHSA Volunteer Coordinator. “We need people to help us
feed all the volunteers who man the construction crews as well as people to come
out and swing a hammer to help us build
homes.”
No experience is necessary, she said.
For more information about volunteering visit www.habitatsa.org or contact
Volunteer Services at 210-223-5203, Ext.
160 or [email protected]. The greatest
need is on Fridays and Saturdays, but
weekday opportunities are available as
well.
“It’s people helping
other people.”
FinAl TOUCHES – Volunteers from the H-e-B tournament of Champions prepare to
lay sod in the yard of a home in the Palo Alto Community. Approximately 210 volunteers
from the tournament spent June 7 landscaping the final seven homes in the community,
one of which was sponsored by the H-e-B tournament of Champions.
Save the Date Did you know
First House Dedication
in
COLEMAN RIDGE
10 a.m.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
...that it takes 260 pounds
of nails, 71 gallons of
paint, 545 bundles of shingles, 48
tubes of caulking, 23 boxes of tile,
284 feet of base board and 140 feet
of door casing to build one Habitat
for Humanity of San Antonio home?
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
San Antonio
Texas
Permit No. 795
Celebrating 35 Years
of building
simple, decent,
affordable homes
PAGE 4
VISION
AUGUST 2011
Conference To ‘Give Back’ To HFHSA
Buy your Women of Faith conference
tickets through Hope Community
Church and $20 will go to Habitat for
Humanity of San Antonio! Women of
Faith’s annual “Over the Top” conference will be held October 21 - 22 at The
Alamodome.
Tickets bought through Hope Community Church at www.hopecommunitysa.com will provide priority seating,
special event invitations and discount
pricing – along with the $20 donation
to HFHSA.
This year’s event speakers include
Patsy Clairmont and Sandi Patty with
musical entertainment including Amy
Calendar
AuguSt
2
Volunteer Orientation
Tuesday, 6:00 p.m.
Habitat Office,
No RSVP required
17 Volunteer Orientation
Wednesday, 12:00 p.m.
Habitat Office
No RSVP required
19 Hab-i-Tour
Friday, 1:00 p.m.
Habitat Office
LUNCH PROVIDED
RSVP: Shelly, 210-223-5203
September
6
Volunteer Orientation
Tickets Bought Through Local Church To Help Build Home
Grant and Mandisa.
HFHSA supporters truly put their
faith in action. Women of Faith is a
great complement to HFHSA as a faithbased women’s organization encouraging women of all ages and stages in life
to grow in faith and spiritual maturity
through a relationship with Jesus Christ
and an understanding of God’s love and
Tuesday, 6:00 p.m.
Habitat Office
No RSVP required
16 Hab-i-Tour
Friday, 1:00 p.m.
Habitat Office
LUNCH PROVIDED
RSVP: Shelly, 210-223-5203
20 F.I.A.T. (Faith in Action Team)
Tuesday, 12-1 p.m.
San Pedro Presbyterian Church
4900 San Pedro
RSVP: Barbara, 210-223-5203
21 Volunteer Orientation
Wednesday, 12:00 p.m.
Habitat Office
No RSVP required
grace.
Tickets are $89 (retail $99) and
can be purchased by visiting Hope
Community Church’s website at
www.hopecommunitysa.com.
For questions – please contact Barbara James at 210/223-5203 x148 or
email [email protected].
VISION
newsletter of
Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio
311 Probandt, San Antonio, tX 78204
210-223-5203 l 210-223-5536 (fax)
www.habitatsa.org
Published Quarterly
Issue 49
August 2011
Coordinator/Design: Shelly LaFleur
Writers: Habitat Staff
Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio
is an ecumenical, Christian organization
working in partnership with God’s people
in need to build simple, decent and affordable homes without interest or profit,
thereby witnessing God’s love in action.