Habitat For Humanity of Northwest Connecticut

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The year 2004 was spent shepherding our 12-acre parcel on Lime Rock Station Road through the subdivision process. It is a difficult site because it was a sand and gravel mine that supplied material for building the Lime Rock Race Track. The land is to be subdivided into five parcels; we expect to eventually build on four of them and to sell one to raise funds.

Falls Village has recently adopted new subdivision regulations and the Habitat subdivision was the first application to be looked at under the new rules. There were two evenings of public hearings and a visit to the site by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The P&Z asked us to redesign a driveway so that emergency vehicles could more easily access the site, and to relocate another driveway to improve sight lines. The new regulations call for setting aside 15% of the land as open space, and we designated lands that will protect the wild riverside views for people canoeing on the river and will minimize the visibility of our homes from the roadway.

Architect Tim Prentice has donated a house design that he did for Cornwall Housing, and it has been adapted for our use by Lakeville Architect Elizabeth Slotnick. Lamb-Kiefer has done the surveying and mapping, Ralph Stanton has done the soil testing and septic design, and Charlie Harson will shortly be excavating our foundation and building our first driveway.

-- George Massey

Our affiliate’s Repair Program continues to grow both in numbers of projects and in the variety of needs served. It is focused on correcting safety problems, reducing energy consumption and on providing handicapped access where required.

Over the past year we have constructed a handicapped ramp, corrected a leaky shower for a blind woman in Canaan, provided energy-efficient windows for a couple in a house in Lakeville, and replaced or repaired several roofs. Through these efforts, several families will continue to be able to live safely in their own homes.

We have been assisted by students from some of the area’s private and public schools, who were encouraged and supervised by our cadre of Habitat “professionals.” Thanks to generous grants from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, The Canaan Foundation, and some churches, we have been able to acquire additional building materials and tools for the repairs.

Although labor is, for the most part, donated, the recipient is expected to reimburse Habitat over time for the cost of materials.

To qualify for our repair program there are three criteria: you must live in an owner-occupied residence somewhere within the boundaries of the six towns we serve; you must be unable to make improvements via conventional financing or resources; and you must show a willingness to partner with Habitat by supporting the project through contributed labor or other efforts.

Fire or other disasters frequently strike unexpectedly and leave families in the Northwest Corner burned out, homeless and without possessions. That was what happened to the Sackets of Locust Hill Road in East Canaan last winter, when an electrical fire destroyed their rented apartment in a two-family house. Brave action by local firefighters and outreach by friends and community services helped Evelyn Sacket and her son Bob deal with the immediate disaster. Though happy that no loss of life resulted from the fire, they were distraught because their property loss was total, and with no insurance, they needed help.

Habitat to the rescue! When the family found another apartment in Canaan, Habitat was able to resettle the Sackets thanks to the many furniture donations from Northwest Corner residents that are collected and stored by Habitat throughout the year. Trekking through the snows of winter, Habitat volunteers provided a couch, chairs, a rug, bedroom furniture, a dining table and chairs, kitchen utensils and other essential furnishings.

Evelyn Sacket is an active worker in The Chore Service which enables area seniors to remain in their homes, but in this instance it was her family that needed help. To thank Habitat, Evelyn and her perky dog Brutus sorted and setup donations at Habitat’s giant August tag sale.

Over the past Labor Day weekend, the area was treated to another Gilbert & Sullivan production by The Light Opera Company of Salisbury (LOCOS). This year’s effort was Patience, and HFHNWCT was fortunate to again be selected as beneficiary of the performance.

LOCOS’ seventh annual production was held at the Sharon Playhouse. Normally, the Walker Auditorium at Hotchkiss is the venue, but construction rendered it unavailable. Patience, one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s less frequently performed operettas, contains music, patter, and choreography cherished by many knowledgeable G & S aficionados. This must have been the case on Labor Day weekend, as the Playhouse was filled to capacity for both performances and the show received critical acclaim in the media.

Habitat is grateful to LOCOS and to Tri-Arts for their help in making this event such a success, financially as well as artistically.

Question: What is the size of three basketball courts, full of furniture and tables holding everything from aquariums to zebras?

Answer: The field house at the Hotchkiss School when it was home to this year’s annual Habitat tag sale.

Fourteen years ago we had our first tag sale in the base ment of St. Mary’s Church in Lakeville. We sold garden urns, a sailboat, furniture, linens, toys, and books and made about $2,500. We had several more sales at St. Mary’s and on the last one made $8,000.

When St. Mary’s was undergoing renovations we moved to the Bittermann Center of St. Joseph’s Church in Canaan. Over the years there our profits increased; in 2003 we made over $20,000. Year by year the sale grew in both donations and attendance. We began using tents for the furniture, and we added a Friday night preview sale for those shoppers who couldn’t wait until Saturday. Then we extended the weekend with a bag sale on Sunday afternoon.

During the last two years in Canaan we were outgrowing the Bittermann Center space; also, rainy summers made the furniture tents dark and dank. As an alternative, one of our many volunteers led us to The Hotchkiss School, where we were warmly received.

The space in the Hotchkiss field house was a wonderful venue for our 2004 sale. We received an amazing number of donations and were able to put everything under one very large roof -- no more tents. Using our expanded space and many terrific donations -- including that stuffed zebra -- we made $30,000.

As our sale has grown so have the number of volunteers who work on it. This year we had over fifty volunteers, working for two weeks to deliver, unpack, sort, arrange, and sell items. And after the sale it took another three days to take the remaining items down and put them away. None of this would be possible without our donors and shoppers. Thank you. And remember to stock up items and make plans to donate and volunteer for the 2005 Habitat for Humanity Tag Sale.

Housatonic Valley Regional High School is home to the HFH Youth Chapter. The 75 members, ranging from freshmen through seniors, usually meet weekly to focus on fundraising and on other ways to help the parent organization in its building projects.

This spring, because our local HFH affiliate was not involved in new construction, the group held its own fundraising events. First they sponsored a triathlon and raised almost $800. Next, they began a printer-cartridge recycling program that netted about $100. Buoyed by the success, they plan to concentrate on more recycling efforts. In the fall, they hope to run a month-long raffle and raise significant funds for our affiliate.

In associated activities, this past March some of the members spent a weekend in Wilmington, DE at the HFH Youth United Workshop and Exhibition. It was the first of its kind. Youth United is a new part of Habitat for Humanity International, created to attract youth ages 5-25 in the hope of encouraging them to become future leaders of the organization. HVRHS students were excited to be initial participants in the program. It provided a learning experience and an opportunity to share friendships with other volunteers. In addition the chapter won first prize for an exhibit about their Northwest Connecticut work.

“They think I’m too old to climb ladders,” Keith told me, a twinkle in his eyes as he agilely descended from the roof he had been inspecting. Not until later, when I learned his actual age, did I understand why his coworkers were concerned; they had never before met anyone like the 82-year-old Keith!

Keith’s involvement with Habitat for Humanity began at his church in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he lived for many years. At the time, in the late 1970s, Habitat for Humanity was not yet divided into geographic areas, and Keith’s minister inspired and organized a group travel to Maine, spending first a week and then weekends on the job. They had taken on the task of finishing a house for a family that had only gotten as far in their building attempt as a basement roofed with tarpaper. The New Canaan group literally put a home over the family’s heads. A remote beginning blossomed into a Habitat chapter of about 20 people in New Canaan, which went on to address housing problems in the neighboring, socio-economically challenged town of Norwalk.

Born in Cuba to Jamaican parents, where his father worked on the railroad and his mother taught English to Spanish businessmen, Keith and his family returned to rural eastern Jamaica in 1927 when he was five. He grew up on a farm, where his father planted coconuts, bananas, and coffee, until he left school at the age of fifteen to learn a profession. Although he wanted to be a mechanic, his grandfather insisted that he learn the building trade, fearful that a mechanic might spend more time driving a car than learning to repair it. A local builder took Keith on, allotting him the usual manual work of an apprentice for the first years. Digging foundations, sifting sand, and mixing and pouring concrete by hand eventually led to his learning all the skills necessary to build a house “Jamaican style,” including the making of doors, windows, and their frames. By all standards, it was a thorough education.

An uncle who lived in Brooklyn agreed to pursue a sponsorship, and after a waiting period of over three years, Keith migrated to the US in 1953, armed with building skills and stubborn determination. Finding a job as a carpenter in an era when blacks were still, in practical terms, barred from the union membership, was literally impossible in New York City. To get into the union, you had to show you had a job, and to get a job, you had to prove that you were a union member: a vicious circle. A friend helped Keith find a job outside the city, in nearby Stamford, Connecticut. As a carpenter, he focused his attention on remodeling projects and in the 1960s went into business on his own. He married, built a house, and settled in New Canaan, where he raised and educated his family. Involvement with Habitat followed almost two decades later. Keith attempted to retire, the first time, in 1976, but was never very effective in slowing down. He is among the most active octogenarians one might have the pleasure of meeting. He settled in Falls Village in 1992 and reconnected to an old passion when a friend from Habitat for Humanity of the Northwest Corner invited Keith to join the group.

Although the cost of building houses was much lower in the seventies, not much else has fundamentally changed since Keith began his involvement with Habitat for Humanity over twenty five years ago; then, as now, he worked with people who had the ambition and wanted a home but couldn’t afford it. He finds working with young people, who are not building professionals, especially rewarding, and with great patience and a good amount of laughter he shares with them not only basic building skills but also the wisdom of his long and colorful life.

“I just enjoy working, helping people. You know, when you see how people react when you do repairs or build a new home, and they move in, and you see how happy they are, it gives you a good feeling. Here are people who need help, and I don’t like to sit around.”

Looking for Keith? He was last seen with his sidekick John Pogue, transporting anything and everything (including the kitchen sink) to the Hotchkiss gym in preparation for the annual tag sale. If you do manage to find him, good luck; you’ll have to move fast if you want to keep up!

In June, at a special “graduation ceremony,” HFHNWCT was presented binders developed by the Northwest Chamber of Commerce containing materials of use to organizations. The Chamber’s six leadership committees had spent several months working on projects that reach out to the community.

The Committee that presented the binder consisted of Joyce Muse of Rainbow Press, Sherie Power of Kelly Services, and Kurt Williams of Becton Dickinson (BD). They came up with the idea of developing a binder to benefit current and future board members. It is an instructional manual containing a membership list, forms, applications, organizational charts, and useful contacts and tips. It will serve as an invaluable tool for training new HFHNWCT board members. Well arranged and illustrated, the binder is also formatted on a CD that can be updated as required. We are grateful to have this excellent management tool for our organization’s use.

Our area is blessed with several organizations striving to address the pressing need for affordable housing. Among them are Habitat for Humanity and the Salisbury Housing Trust. We asked Jack Hamilton, a board member, to explain the similarities and differences between the two organizations.

Both Habitat for Humanity and the Housing Trust are not-for-profit organizations. They share the goal of promoting affordable home ownership. Both use techniques, such as land-lease arrangements, designed to keep the homes affordable. Both seek philanthropic support. By coincidence, both have recently completed their fourth affordable home.

Here are some of the differences: The Housing Trust provides homes for families living or working in Salisbury. Habitat’s goal is to build and repair homes in Canaan, Falls Village, Norfolk, Sharon and Cornwall, as well as Salisbury. A point system used in the Housing Trust application selection process is designed to advantage those who actively volunteer in vital Salisbury community services such as fire and ambulance. Applicants for Housing Trust homes seek conventional mortgages. Habitat issues and holds interest-free mortgages on its homes, with the down payment fullfilled by “sweat equity.”

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©2004 Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut
P.O. Box 1, Salisbury, CT 06068    (860) 435-4747