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"A Firm Foundation".....A Groundbreaking Event. Saturday April 12, 2008 9:00a.m. 3001 Minnesota Avenue
Saturday morning (April 12th) we had the snow shoveling…..errr…..Ground Breaking..that’s it….for our Thrivent Builds home at 3001 Minnesota for the Michelle Moore family. The UW-SP Student Chapter made up the sign (thanks Heather), Pastor Steve Olson from Trinity gave the prayer, Nancy Berg brought the food, Michelle cut the ribbon, and Eric Berg, Michelle and I turned over the ceremonial first shovelfuls of dirt. The theme was “How Firm a Foundation”, and not only were Michelle’s children anxious to sign the bricks, they got a good start on the excavation too! Thank you all for a great turnout on a wonderful Spring morning in Wisconsin. And thank you to Eric Berg, Keith Widdel and Bill Petri, our Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reps. Our new home at 3001 is made possible by the generosity and social awareness of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. __________
April 19, 2008
Things are starting on the home....we have a big pile of dirt and a big footprint down. __________ Last week…….did I say a gaggle of college students was coming this weekend????? Silly typo, I meant a giggle of college students…….seems they have these things called exams…..who knew? The subs have been busy on the site. The frost wall is in and foamed. We spent Friday (sweating) and Saturday (freeezing) shoveling dirt, then tried to keep it in the wheelbarrows (the darn things seemed awfully tippy to me!). The Central Wisconsin Area Community Theater has been kind enough to allow us to use their parking lot during construction. And as long as we had the dirt and the bodies, we thanked them by eliminating a few of the low spots in the lot. We are at the point where work is a little slim (but only for one day) so we will NOT be working on Friday the 2nd . But on Saturday the 3rd (at 9:00)…...plan on gathering at 3001 Minnesota. The foundation will be backfilled Monday and the plumbers will be in Tuesday. Saturday we will be doing the final leveling and placing foam sheets down so that the slab can be poured. __________ It’s Sunday and beautiful……Saturday….not so much. But. With the plumbers coming to put the heating coils down tomorrow, and hopefully with the mason pouring the floor this week, we had a mission to accomplish…..and yep….our great volunteers were up to the task. I mean, ya gotta love this crew. With the rain coming down I heard….”well at least it keeps us from getting dusty” (muddy, of course, is another matter), and when the rain changed to sleet I heard….”hey, we’ll stay drier now”…..ya gotta love ‘em. So. We needed to carefully level the fill and put down foam….a whole lotta foam. And, level we did, and foam we placed and taped, and voila…..foam down….check! Our next work days are Friday the 9th (at 12:30), and Saturday the 10th (at 9:00)…... at 3001 Minnesota, the site of our Thrivent Builds Home. If the mason didn’t get too far behind, what with the snow last week, we will begin framing the walls. __________ Well you got my last update about no work last Friday, but we had the lumber delivered to another of our Partner’s home just down the street, and on Saturday we got off to a smashing good time! We precut and loaded the studs (ahhhh those are the studs on the left), laid out the sill plates and a few walls, and also continued on the landscaping at 2933 Minnesota. The mason should be in this week to finish pouring the slab over the network of heating coils that the plumber had placed……and we will be off and running……hammering walls together making that wonderful Habitat “music”. __________ We got the lumber moved over to the Thrivent Builds site this weekend and got to work raising the walls! First the sill plate was placed, and then the east and the north walls were laid out, framed up and stood up. Wow, a great start on the framing. __________ Our first Wednesday workday of the summer was a huge success with a dozen volunteers putting up two walls in four hours. Great job! Thank you all. __________ We had a team from Adventure 212 at our Thrivent Builds home in this weekend, and they came ready to work! Hammering, sawing ,"adjusting"....they did it all. We hammered together a couple walls, finished the rough openings for the windows, cut out the OSB for the openings and then blocked it back to place. We also worked on truing up the walls and attaching the top plate. __________ Well we managed to get a good lick in this weekend while dancing between the rain drops and holding on for dear life in that wind! The Wednesday crew completed most of the second set of interior walls. Then on Friday and Saturday we picture-framed the windows, placed nailers for the ceiling drywall, did the layout for the trusses, put up a strongback to support the trusses, and cleaned out the garage at the 2717 home. __________ WOW…..lots done at the house over the last 10 days. As reported, we dealt the trusses up with the help of the Ellis Stone crane a week ago Friday. Aside from a couple cool looking dudes (??) in hats, a long time volunteer Denny was at it. Denny is leaving the area and will be missed....thanks Denny! Then, with the help of the UWSP Positive Psych students, it was off to finishing the roof sheathing, lookouts and facia, and getting a good start on sheathing the gable ends. This coming weekend it is time for shingles. So if you know shingles or would like to be introduced we are working Friday the 27th at 12:30 and Saturday the 28th at 9:00. __________ We worked around the weather a bit this weekend and managed to get up on the roof and get a good start on the shingles. We were also able to continue framing interior walls. __________ In spite of taking a couple days off we still got a lot accomplished last week. We had volunteers working Monday and Tuesday evenings, and Wednesday morning. It shouldn’t take much to finish up the roof this week, and weather permitting it will probably be done on Wednesday. Great…… having the roof on is a huge step. __________
Windows and Walls That’s what we were up to this week……OH and on Wednesday the gang finished the roof. GO TEAM!! We had a great turnout from our Family Partners this weekend and with the help of our other volunteers we installed six windows and hammered (whoa.....BIG hammer) together (I love that music) a couple more interior walls. More windows are on their way and we will continue installing as they arrive. We’ll get the porch erected and roofed soon, and siding can’t be that far off! Busy….busy! __________ We are progressing well on the home, and as usual….got a good lick in this weekend. Friday we placed the F-channel for the soffit, and Saturday, with the help of a crew from Beautiful Savior Church, we were able to get most of the soffit up, and construct the porch….great day’s work, thank you all! __________ Week of July 21st Thrivent Builds! This Friday we unloaded the rest of the windows and the vinyl siding. Then in preparation to get the electricians and plumbers in we carefully studied the blueprints and knocked together the rest of the interior walls. A big thanks to Trinity Lutheran Church for sending a crew and LUNCH on Saturday! The gang got the rest of the windows in and worked on the interior door interior frames. __________ Take a drive by 3001 and you’ll see the gang got a lot done over the past 10 days! The exterior doors are on, the porch roof and soffit is finished, and most of the siding is on……and just look how well it matches at the corners…..great job! We also moved some donated landscaping rock to 2717. Speaking of 2717, the drywall is finished and painted so we will begin to install interior doors, cabinets and trim in the next couple of weeks. __________ The Thrivent home at 3001 Minnesota is looking great! After some ciphering we finished up (with the exception of the gables) the siding, trenched for and placed the Insul-Guard, foamed around the windows then roughed them for the dry wall returns, and dropped the ceiling a bit in the kitchen. Next week looks like ceiling drywall and insulation. We will also start getting back to work at 2716 Minnesota soon, hanging doors, trim, and cabinets. __________ Guess what?? Lots done again this weekend. Carefully cutting and fitting we were able to finish the vinyl…..and it looks sweet! Since the electrical rough-in has been finished, on Saturday, with the help of UW-SP's Mary Roach Hall RA’s and Beautiful Savior Church, we were able to get the insulation in the walls…..can vapor barrier and dry wall be far behind? Exciting times indeed! Speaking of exciting seems Dave Marie catered lunch Saturday…..I wasn’t there but I’m a think’n jerk chicken……yum!! CHECK ON OUR CONSTRUCTION STATUS
Central Wisconsin Habitat for Humanity will build a home in 2008 as part of national effort Additional $20 million committed to Thrivent Financial/Habitat for Humanity alliance—more than 650 homes completed so far, 322 additional homes funded in U.S. in 2008 This year, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has given new meaning to "corporate generosity." Already one of Habitat for Humanity’s largest supporters through the $105 million Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity alliance, Thrivent Financial has announced an increase in this four-year commitment to $125 million. Of that amount, $23.2 million will be used in 2008 to build 322 Habitat homes in 42 states. Additionally in 2008, the alliance will support more than 200 volunteer teams that will help build homes on the Gulf Coast and abroad. "At the beginning of the alliance we committed $105 million, but actually budgeted an additional $20 million that we could add later if the alliance proved successful," said Senior Vice President Brad Hewitt, of Thrivent Financial. "Given our results to date, we’re ready to make that additional commitment." The increased commitment from Thrivent Financial responds to the interest and involvement of thousands of the nearly 3 million Thrivent Financial members, the successes of the alliance since it was formed in 2005, and the understanding that it has greater potential yet to be realized. Locally, Central Wisconsin Habitat for Humanity (CWHfH) has been awarded $65,000, or 65 percent of the funds necessary to build one new home in 2008 through the alliance. This home will be built by area volunteers, of whom at least one-half will be Lutheran and one-fourth will be Thrivent Financial members. The Habitat partner family will also invest 250 hours of "sweat equity" helping to build their home. Construction will begin in the Spring of 2008 and is expected to continue for 5 – 6 months. "The grant from Thrivent will be instrumental in helping us achieve our mission of eliminating poverty housing here in Portage County. While the monetary support receives all the headlines, the volunteer support we will receive from Thrivent members and Lutheran congregations is also a crucial component of what makes Habitat work," said Tom Macak, President of the CWHfH Board of Directors. "Because of their benevolence, we will be able to give one additional family the pride of homeownership. And that pride transcends any material gains; it is a fresh start on life." Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity brings together two national nonprofit networks of more than 1,600 Habitat affiliates and 1,362 Thrivent volunteer chapters. The need for an effort of this magnitude is great: "We are pleased at the prospect of working with Central Wisconsin Habitat for Humanity," said William Petri, Lutheran Community Services Specialist/Thrivent Builds for the Southwestern Wisconsin Region of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. "We are excited about helping them expand their capacity to fulfill their mission to end poverty housing in the Stevens Point area." Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity supports Habitat home-building in the United States and abroad through its Thrivent Builds Homes and Thrivent Builds Worldwide programs. It also supports the Thrivent Builds Mobile, a "multi-media exhibit on wheels" that will tour the U.S. in 2008 as it advocates for affordable housing and informs visitors about the Thrivent Builds alliance and how they can become involved. To learn more, visit www.thriventbuilds.com. About Central Wisconsin Habitat for Humanity Central Wisconsin Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit Christian housing ministry dedicated to building decent, affordable housing in partnership with those in need in Stevens Point and the surrounding community. Since 1988, CWHfH has worked with 18 families to build homes. About the Southwest Wisconsin Region of Thrivent Financial The Southwest Wisconsin Region is made up of more than 60 financial representatives and more than 76,000 members in the 26 counties of the southwestern portion of the state. Together with its members, Thrivent Financial's Southwest Wisconsin Region provided more than $4.4 million in charitable outreach in 2006. For more information, visit www.thrivent.com.. About Habitat for Humanity International Habitat for Humanity International is an ecumenical Christian ministry that welcomes to its work all people dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has built more than 250,000 houses worldwide, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 1 million people. For more information, visit www.habitat.org. About Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is a not-for-profit membership organization helping nearly 3 million members achieve their financial goals and give back to their communities. As a not-for-profit fraternal benefit society, Thrivent Financial sponsors national outreach programs and activities that support congregations, schools, charitable organizations and individuals in need. Thrivent Financial has main offices in Minneapolis, Minn., and Appleton, Wis. For more information, visit www.thrivent.com.
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