President's Message
This past year has been a successful year for
our affiliate. Our most obvious accomplishment has been the completion
of the Selleck Hill house. This is a handsome house in a handsome
setting and all of our volunteers should be justly proud of their
contributions. It appears that our partner family is as pleased
with the house as we are. A delightful but soggy dedication of
this house was held on April 28, 2002.
We were all sorry that health problems made it
impossible for our partner family to remain in the Undermountain
House in Salisbury. Our affiliate was able to purchase the house
back and a new partner family is now enjoying the house. A dedication
for this house will be held at a future time.
Great strides have been made on the Lime Rock
Station Road property. Some surveying has been done and it is beginning
to look as though this project will finally move forward. It would
be heartening if construction could actually begin this summer.'
Our fund raising efforts were successful again
with good returns from the LOCOS production, the Tag Sale, as well
as the wonderful returns from the fund drive. The committee had
set a goal of increasing the number of donors as well as increasing
Board donations. Both goals were met through the hard work of this
committee.
We had two visits this year from our Northeast
Affiliate Support Manager, Bruce Rodgers. His fall visit was our
Triennial evaluation which resulted in some good commendations
as well as a few "Opportunities for Growth." A number of those "opportunities" are now being addressed.
We have been fortunate in having a new volunteer,
Phil Havens, join our effort and he is going to maintain our web
site which had become terribly outdated. We welcome his help.
Work has progressed steadily on our extensive
repair project which has been headed by Tom Key. Tom has personally
worked on this project and has made sure that it maintained its
momentum.
It has been a pleasure to serve my terms as President.
The members of this Board have always been very supportive, helpful,
and willing to volunteer when needed. I have also found the other
officers to be an asset to our Board. I am looking forward to working
with our new President, Lynn Nania.
Rosemary Farnsworth
President
Fundraising Committee Annual Report
This past year (2002) has proven to be extremely
gratifying. We fear that past results will be difficult to match
in view of a very challenging economic and international climate.
Through the hard work of our energetic committee, we were able
to generate $91,000, close to our target of $100,000. Donations
from churches, foundations, corporate and individuals, combined
with two very success events (Pirates of Penzance and our Annual
Tag Sale) have helped propel our results.
Our Tag Sale, along with the rapidly expanding Annual Appeal, hopefully will
provide us the foundation for future annual revenue. However, to
achieve capacity building, we must tap other revenue sources. One
event, with an impressive track record, is our Wine Tasting. We
have succeeded in securing an impressive venue and have an equally
outstanding committee to maximize the results of this elegant event.
As we recruit new members to this committee, we hope that many new ideas are
presented for future fundraising events. Our organization has gained
the reputation for notable fundraising endeavors, and with the
right personnel, ideas, and execution, we will succeed.
2002 Fundraising Results
- Contributions:
- Individuals $23,000
- Rebates 15,000
- Foundations 3,000
- Businesses 2,000
- Churches 1,000
- Total Contributions $44,000
- Tag Sale 25,000
- LOCOS 22,000
- Total $91,000
John Pogue
Construction Committee Annual Report
New Construction
We completed our fourth house at 30 Selleck Hill, Salisbury in
April 2002, approximately one year after seriously getting under
way. It was our quickest build to date. The family moved in May
1, and purchased the house in the fall of 2002.
We are investigating construction options for
our next house with the goals of simpler construction and cost
savings. We expect to break ground for our Falls Village project
in late spring-early summer 2003.
Rehab and Repairs
We undertook a major rehab project this year, working with Salisbury
Family Services on a project to convert the unfinished ground
floor of a barn with an upstairs apartment into living space.
This was necessary due to the progressive physical disability
of one of the family members. The end result will provide the
family not only with a rather nice two-story house, but also
with the potential for some rental income (requiring zoning approval)
down the road. Several local professionals donated significant
time to the project, specifically Elizabeth Slotnick, the architect,
Al Ginouves of Holland and Chamberlain et Al, Jim Casey, Jr.
the plumber, and Bill McNulty of Superior Painting. We are also
fortunate on this project to have the continued support of LITCO
Supply in Torrington, as well as Herrington's. The project has
been headed by two site supervisors, supported by the construction
coordinator
and some additional volunteers. In particular, students from
The Hotchkiss School were a significant and dependable labor
source.
Jennifer Weigel
Family Selection/Support Committee Annual Report
There was much work for the Committee this year,
both in assisting our existing partner families and in selecting
a new family for the Undermountain Road property. Sharon Olsen
who had ably headed the Committee for many years moved to Wyoming
in June. Rev. Barbara Schenk assumed leadership for Family Support
while Eileen Fox with other committee members coordinated the Family
Selection process.
Construction of the Selleck Hill house moved ahead
and in May, Terre and Hal Lefferts and their three boys took up
residence under a lease with Habitat. On December 6th, Habitat
conveyed ownership of this beautiful home to the Lefferts.
The homeowner of the Undermountain Road experienced
medical problems that made it impossible to continue the financial
commitments of ownership. The committee was able to assist her
in qualifying for Faith House in Salisbury and she moved there
in April. After many months spent resolving legal issues with the
State of Connecticut, Habitat reacquired ownership of the property
in October. In the interim we conducted a marketing campaign and
application process and notified the Stevenson family of Salisbury
in October that they had been selected. Danielle and her two daughters
moved into the house around Thanksgiving. Sweat equity hours were
contributed by the family, relatives and friends to freshen the
house. More sweat equity work will be done to the exterior of the
house in the spring, after which ownership is expected to be transferred
to Danielle.
The Committee also worked with attorneys and other
Habitat Board members to revise the Memorandum of Agreement between
Habitat and partner families relating to appreciating values of
the houses sold by Habitat with the aim of preserving affordable
housing into the future.
The Committee hopes to finish standardizing documents
and application forms explaining the family selection process which
will be included on the new Habitat website www.habitatnwct.org.
Site Committee Annual Report
The challenge for 2002 was to make decisions about
the development of our Lime Rock Station Road property and to get
our next site ready for building. We were given about 92 acres
of land with approximately 12 acres on the river side and the balance
on the northern side of the road. It appears that each side of
the road contains about 12 acres that are developable.
Although the northern parcel may be more easily
developed than the river side which has been mined for sand and
gravel, we decided to explore development of the river side, leaving
the northern portion available to market. The proceeds of which
can be applied towards construction costs on the river side and
permit us to purchase building lots in towns not yet served by
our organization.
The plan which has emerged calls for using two
existing accesses and building two Habitat homes served by each
driveway. The plan would leave 3 to 4 acres at the highest point
of this parcel to create a fifth, marketable lot.
We obtained a grant from The Torrington Area Fund
for Public Giving to pay for a survey provided by Lamb Kiefer and
a grant from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation to offset development
costs. Ralph Stanton and Charlie Harson have been engaged to conduct
perk tests.
As only one of the proposed houses will be visible
from the road, our impact on this scenic area will be minimized.
The existing areas that were previously excavated by past mining
may serve as ideal foundations and also reduce our visual impact.
It is our hope to have the subdivision application
ready for submission in the spring of 2003.
George Massey
Volunteer Committe Annual Report
This year saw the completion and dedication of
the Selleck Hill house. This house, completed in less than a year,
involved more volunteers and community groups than any of our other
projects. It was exciting to see so many volunteers at the dedication.
A rehab project in Lakeville has not involved
as many volunteers but those on the site are certainly dedicated.
The Habitat group from The Hotchkiss School continues to be work
on our projects.
Fund rising events involved many new volunteers.
Once again our successful tag sale brought in many new workers.
We had over thirty people working on this event and many have signed
up to work on other projects.
The end of the year finds us trying to rebuild
our volunteer lists so we are ready to go as soon as we get the
green flag on our Lime Rock Station property.
Kathy Mera
Volunteer Coordinator
Public Relations Committee Annual Report
This committee has initiated notices to newspapers,
radio stations, and public TV channels regarding all fundraising
events and functions. Also, we forwarded press releases and feature
articles to the Lakeville Journal, Litchfield County Times and
other media.
We coordinated publicity for the dedication of
the home for the Lefferts' family.
Three events occurred during the year which will
impact our public image. Firstly, Phil Havens, a computer professional,
has volunteered to update our existing web site. Also, Vali Valente,
a graduate cinematography student, has produced a documentary of
our program. It is hoped that this video will be aired on community
TV and incorporated on our web site. Finally, this summer we participated
in "Celebrate Sharon", a community event which highlighted volunteer activities.
As we start the New Year, a group has been established
and is currently in the process of updating our brochure.
Lyn Hart
Habitat for Humanity NW CT began trying to involve
kids at the high school level in the Spring of 2002. Currently,
Housatonic Valley Regional High School is the only school involved,
but HVRHS covers six towns (and six elementary schools), five of
which are part of our affiliate area.
We meet with the students during the school hours
of their activity blocks which occur almost every Monday morning.
The first semester we had 17 children involved, but this last semester
we have about 40 children ready and eager to help Habitat for Humanity.
Even more have signed up for the Spring 2003 school semester. In
addition to discussion and updates of our work locally, we also
look at work that is being done all over the world.
We are currently arranging a major recycling project
at the school to not only benefit the mounds of waste there, but
to also be used as a fund raiser for our affiliate. The students
are really excited about this and have already plastered the walls
with posters, hoping to spread the word.
We are also planning to get involved with the
new Habitat for Humanity International Youth United, a program
that is aimed at getting youths from the ages of 5 - 25 involved
in sponsoring and building homes in their communities. We hope
to spread this program to all, or at least some, of the grammar
schools feeding into HVRHS, helping them to understand Habitat's
mission and encouraging them to participate in our local work.
Kids from different ages, backgrounds, and organizations will work
together and from this group we hope to develop leadership skills
and to create youth leaders. If all goes as planned, in just a
matter of a few years, we should have a very large and capable
group of young citizens totally dedicated to Habitat for Humanity.
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