Amity Cares has been an active Habitat house sponsor since the autumn of 2004. Businesses, faith groups, civic organizations, student groups and individuals from the communities of Woodbridge, Bethany, Orange and Westville have raised funds and supplied volunteer labor and materials to build three Habitat homes in New Haven. Amity Cares’s extraordinary commitment to Habitat has made a profound impact on the lives of the families they have served. 

Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen, Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel, New Haven, leads the opening prayer

Pedro Candelario-Cuevas, Arrelis Vazquez and their children

Sponsors of 42 Dewitt Street

• O&M Electric
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Woodbridge
• Amity Senior High School Habitat for Humanity Chapter
• AT&T
• Beecher Road School Woodbridge
• Carter Drywall
• Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel
• Congregation Or Shalom
• Dennis Colwell
• First Church of Christ Congregational, Bethany
• Pat Cardozo, Coldwell Banker Realty
• Trinity Church, Woodbridge
• Werth Family Foundation

Co-Sponsors

• NewAlliance Foundation
• M&LF Giving Back Foundation
• One of a Kind Foundation

Additional Support

• U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Program

Marisol’s Story

Marisol is soft-spoken, a bit shy and self-effacing, but she also has a will of iron and an unshakable faith that has enabled her to survive her ordeal of being homeless and the parent of three small children ten years ago. (Read about Marisol’s journey in the recent New Haven Independent article at:  http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/11/skills_for_life.php). Week after week, after working at her full time job, she arrived at the work site to do her sweat equity hours, one of the requirements for Habitat homeownership. She set a sterling example of what can be accomplished with determination and a dream. It was particularly meaningful that Marisol worked side by side with participants in the Skills for Life program, who themselves were learning the skills necessary for full-time employment and financial independence.

The Skills for Life Project

Skills for Life, a collaboration between Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven and Youth Continuum, is a pilot program that provides construction skills training and life skills for young adults preparing to transition from homelessness or Connecticut’s foster care system to self-sufficiency. Fifteen Skills for Life participants received a stipend to work alongside Habitat’s professional construction staff to build 34 Dewitt Street. They learned construction skills, and just as importantly, they learned how a workplace functions. Now that the project is finished, those interested in construction as a career will be assisted with gaining entry into educational programs or apprenticeship programs. The first Skills for Life project was funded primarily by The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Habitat is currently raising funds for the second Skills for Life project.

Sponsor for 34 Dewitt Street

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Co-Sponsors

• NewAlliance Foundation

• M&LF Giving Back Foundation

• One of a Kind Foundation

Additional Support

• Pfizer

• The United Illuminating Company

• U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Community Block Development Program

Habitat Executive Director Bill Casey accepts
check from Scout Executive Lou Salute

7 great tool caddies ready to use!

On Friday, July 10, ESPN, located in Bristol, Connecticut, sent a team of 20 volunteers to help build 34 & 42 Dewitt Street in New Haven. In addition to volunteering, ESPN made a generous donation that will enable Habitat to buy materials and tools that will be used to build the two new construction homes. Here are some photos from the day.

Habitat is deeply grateful to Subway and its volunteers for their contributions!

Lane Volunteers at Work!

Lane volunteers have worked on site several times this summer. Below are some photos from their August 7 work day.

Lane volunteers assist Adam Blasavage,
Habitat construction manager, with sheetrock

Please note: the blog is not a scheduling tool. Do not report to the site if you have not been scheduled.

To schedule a date, contact Ellen McNally, Volunteer Coordinator, at (203) 785-0794, x.10.

In spite of the overcast day, Saturday, May 16 was a day of smiles and hugs as representatives and volunteers from Habitat sponsor groups Yale-New Haven Hospital and Madison Cares joined with friends, family, co-workers of Habitat’s two newest homeowners to celebrate the completion of 15 and 23 Wilson Street.

Yale-New Haven Hospital and its medical staff partnered with Habitat for the first time to build 15 Wilson Street, the new home of Eliezer Trinidad, Evelyn Matos and their three children. In addition to financial support, 175 YNHH volunteers worked 19 weeks on the house, contributing almost 1,200 hours of labor. Volunteers included a broad cross section of departments, including doctors, nurses, administrators, health professionals, clerical and support staff, as well as some of their own family members.

Madison Cares, Habitat’s oldest house sponsor group, raised the funds and provided the volunteers for 23 Wilson Street, the home of Pedro Castro, Ginette Quiñones and their three children. The home is their fifth homebuilding project for Habitat.

Click on the following link for Channel 8’s coverage of the event:
Habitat for Humanity builds green homes via WTNH.com

Click on the following link to read coverage by the New Haven Independent: New Neighbors Are Eco-Friendly — & Just Plain Friendly via New Haven Independent.

 
Proud new homeowners!
Eliezer Trinidad, Evelyn Matos & family (above) and Pedro Castro, Ginette Quiñones & family (below)

Dedications are particularly joyous for Habitat. It’s the special occasion when friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, Habitat staff, Board and supporters come together to celebrate a major milestone in the lives of Habitat families. A dedication acknowledges the achievements of the new homeowner and the Habitat community that has worked shoulder to shoulder with them for many months to make their dream of homeownership some true.

Fall 2008 was a busy and productive time for Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven. Three homes were completed and dedicated in time for our newest homeowners to celebrate Thanksgiving in them.

18 Shepard Street, the home of Tonya Sherman and her family (pictured below), was dedicated on September 14, 2008. Madison Cares sponsored the house, their fourth for Habitat. The house, originally built around 1900, was so delapidated that it required a complete gut rehab. The property was acquired from the City of New Haven.

On November 22, Habitat dedicated two new homes on Hallock Street belonging to Patricia Walters (below, left, with her son Scott) and William Morales and Sol Maria Velez (below, right) and their families. Both homes are three-bedroom, one-and-a-half baths, with a front porch and full, unfinished basement. Sleeping Giant Build, another Habitat house sponsor group, sponsored the Morales/Velez family’s home and provided the volunteers to build it. The home of Patricia Walters was co-sponsored by two family foundations. The Hallock Street parcel was also acquired from the City of New Haven.

Several businesses and community organizations partnered with Habitat on the three projects.

• Dimeo Construction made a generous donation of Thanksgiving turkeys and all the trimmings for the three families.

• IKEA donated kitchen cabinets for the Walters home.

• New Haven Reads provided a box of books for each family at the dedications.

• One Economy, a global non-profit organization dedicated to maximizing the potential of technology for low income families, provided the three new homeowners with a technology package that included two years of AT&T Broadband DSL, a computer, desktop software and technology training.

• Madison Cares, Sleeping Giant Build and Habitat brought house warming gifts on the days the homes were dedicated.

Habitat and its three newest homeowners extend thanks to everyone who worked on the homes, made donations and provided support in numerous and invaluable and thoughtful ways.