Habitat EKC Faith CommunitiesWe are a Christian organization that builds homes in partnership with families; giving them a hand up - not a hand-out, and thereby honoring their God-given dignity and encouraging them to work hard with us towards a shared goal of creating a safe and secure home for their children to grow in.
As an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, we share the goals and mission statement: Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian organization dedicated to eliminating substandard housing and homelessness worldwide and to making adequate, affordable shelter a matter of conscience and action. The work of Habitat for Humanity is driven by the desire to give tangible expression to the love of God through the work of eliminating poverty housing.
Habitat's mission and methods are predominantly derived from a few key theological concepts: the necessity of putting faith into action, the "economics of Jesus" (God miraculously blessing and increasing what we offer, charging no interest and seeking no profit) and the "theology of the hammer" (bringing people of religious diversity together with a common goal of serving others).
Our current Faith Partners who are sponsoring homes in Redmond and Snoqualmie are: C2BUILD: Coalition To Build United in Loving DevotionLong time supporters of Habitat EKC, Sammamish Presbyterian, Faith United Methodist Church, Pine Lake Covenant Church and Sammamish Hills Lutheran Church and Timberlake Christian Fellowship, are supporting a new family that will be living in Building D at Patterson Park in Redmond. They are providing both the funds to cover the costs of a townhouse as well as providing volunteers to build one Saturday a month. Cornerstone for Hope CoalitionA second Church Coalition is supporting a new family in Building D at Patterson Park. These churches are: Bear Creek United Methodist, Church of the Holy Cross Episcopal, St. Johns Episcopal, St. Jude Parish, Woodinville Alliance, are committed to raise the funds needed for a family's home and providing volunteers to build once a month. Together We Build This interfaith coalition, consisting of Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations, works together once a year on a Habitat jobsite combining hard work with spiritual dialog, good food, and friendships formed while building together. For six years representatives from
Aldersgate United Methodist,
Bellevue Christian,
Eastgate Congregational,
I.M.A.N,
St. Joseph Catholic,
St. Thomas Episcopal, and
Temple B'nai Torah have built together on the Habitat for Humanity EKC jobsite. They raise money throughout the year to contribute to Habitat and then spend a couple of weekends in the fall building together. They have enlarged their vision to include sharing meals together throughout the year, building their faith and learning about each other.
If you or your congregation is interested in joining this group please contact us at habitat@habitatekc.org. Thrivent BuildsThanks to a new grant in 2008,
Thrivent Builds again joins with Habitat EKC to build two new homes on Snoqualmie Ridge. These will be the fourth and fifth homes built through the national partnership between
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
and Habitat for Humanity International. A unique feature of this sponsorship is that these homes are built predominantly by Lutheran Congregations. In the last two years we have been blessed to have members from 18 Lutheran congregations participate in building the Thrivent Builds homes. Working side by side with the new homeowners, the Lutheran congregations build their faith, build relationships, and build simple, decent, affordable homes for low-income families.
This year plans are underway for an accelerated build of two single family homes in our Habitat neighborhood on Snoqualmie Ridge during July and August 2008. We plan to construct these new houses within an 8 week time frame with Lutheran congregations taking the lead in proving the volunteers for building. If you are a professional builder or tradesperson who could donate a weekend or two to this build or be a Team Leader and supervise non-skilled volunteers, please let us know. We are creating our build schedule and need both skilled and un-skilled volunteers to make this accelerated build happen!
The majority of the funds to build these two houses were received through a grant from Thrivent Builds. The remaining funds are raised at the annual Thrivent Builds Golf Tournament & Auction benefiting Habitat EKC. The tournament will be held on Monday May 19, 2008 at Bear Creek Country Club. To join us for golf or for the dinner/auction please
sign up online today.
If you or your church can participate in the accelerated build this summer, please contact us at habitat@habitatekc.org.
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