Habitat for Humanity Chapter
Our purpose is to make all Escapees aware of Habitat International, and Care-A-Vanners. We hope to show how to enjoy the best of the RV lifestyle while making an active contribution to the elimination of poverty housing in this country and abroad.
(This page maintained by Allen Downs. Last modified: 6/15/2009 2:09:58 PM Central time.)
Escapees BOF (Birds of a Feather) groups are comprised of people who share a common interest. In order to belong to a BOF, one must be a member in good standing of the Escapees RV Club. HFH is dedicated to the Ideal that all people deserve a simple, decent place to live, on terms they can afford.
• Remember, we are providing not a Hand Out, but a Hand Up
Benefits of Joining HFH BoF:
Please complete and mail the application found near the bottom of this page.
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We schedule at least one ‘ALL’ Escapee Build each year.
Upcoming all Escapee builds:
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From Care-A-Vanners as of 15 June, 2009: RV Care-A-Vanner coordinators on the road
Dear Care-A-Vanners,
It’s been such a pleasure to speak to old friends and make new ones as we take your calls to sign you up for Care-A-Vanner builds. We hope you are pleased with the level of customer service you are receiving from us.
We seem to have arrived in Americus at an opportune time. We are glad to support a program that helps so many families, and has been such an important part of our lives. As we head out on the road, we are excited to be the main contact for Care-A-Vanners. You may continue to sign up for builds by calling the RV Coordinator at 1-800-HABITAT ext. 7534 or emailing rvinfodesk@habitat.org
Extension 7534 will actually “ring” on a laptop in our rig and take a message when we are not available; we’ll be using an aircard when we don’t have Wi-Fi. If you have an urgent need and cannot reach us, please call Volunteer Mobilization at 1-800-HABITAT, ext. 7530 and a staff member will assist you.
We are grateful for the assistance we receive daily from Jwana Washington and David Minich. Without their help we would not have achieved nearly as much as we have so far. Although many responsibilities and the financial crunch limit the time they have to devote to the Care-A-Vanner program, we know it remains dear to their hearts and they never hesitate to give us the support we need.
We ask for your patience with us as we transition the Care-A-Vanner desk to our Bounder. We are greatly anticipating the day we can announce that the new online signup program is up and running. This system has taken longer than expected, due to limited available resources, but we are in the testing phase. We know there will be glitches as we begin supporting you from the road―there always are―but we expect to overcome them.
We look forward to continuing to support you in the months and years to come. We hope to meet each of you on a build―somewhere, someday!
In partnership,
Mary (and Tony) Campbell
Be an RV team leader
Team leaders, who serve as a liaison between the team and the affiliate, perform a critical organizing role on RV Care-A-Vanner builds. They act as a single point of contact for the affiliate and the team, passing along information as appropriate. This often includes forwarding logistics details to participants—such as information about camping facilities, meal arrangements, the directions to campgrounds and build sites, locations of laundry facilities, grocery stores, churches, mail delivery and more—and answering questions.
Many of our scheduled builds still do not yet have team leaders. If you would like to volunteer as a team leader, any of the following upcoming builds can use your coordinating skills. Please call us at 1-800-422-4828, ext. 7534 or 229-410-7534 if you are willing to help in this way.
Foley, Alabama July 5–12
St. Ignace, Michigan July 5–19
Thibodaux, Louisiana July 5–19
Washington, Iowa July 5–19
Mankato, Minnesota July 12–26
Richmond, Indiana July 12–26
Brookings, South Dakota July 19–August 2
Kingsford, Michigan July 26–August 9
Thibodaux, Louisiana July 26–August 9
Alpena, Michigan August 9–30
Brookings, South Dakota August 9–23
Applause!
Thanks to the following Care-A-Vanners for agreeing to become team leaders:
Anthony Clemons
Scott and Nancy Hoag
Harvey and Connie Radford
Mary and Steve Volenec
Rich and Jan Harper
Donna and Loren Burkett
Pete and Billie Czech
Richard and Shirley Harvey
Jeff and Judy Rothwell
Stan and Mary Lou Lehman
Larry and Mem Halstead
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Upcoming builds
Sign up to participate in a build now! The need continues to be great, and there are many opportunities for you to contribute. Look at the online build listing or ongoing RV host sites. The schedule is updated at the beginning of every month. Call the RV Care-A-Vanner Coordinator at 1-800-422-4828, ext. 7534 or 229-410-7534 for assistance. If for any reason you cannot reach Mary, please call the Volunteer Mobilization desk at 1-800-422-4828, ext. 7530 or 229-410-7530 for assistance. We are all happy to help you find a build that suits your needs!
Durango, Colorado* June 21–July 5, 2009
Kingsford, Michigan June 21–July 5, 2009
Brookings, South Dakota June 28–July 12, 2009
Foley, Alabama July 5–12, 2009
Port Townsend, Washington* July 5–17, 2009
Washington, Iowa July 5-19, 2009
Iowa City, Iowa July 5–17, 2009
Pagosa Springs, Colorado July 5–19, 2009
Lincoln, Michigan July 5–19, 2009
Thibodaux, Louisiana July 5–19, 2009
St. Ignace, Michigan July 5–19, 2009
Marquette, Michigan July 12–26, 2009
Tillamook, Oregon* July 12–26, 2009
Mankato, Minnesota July 12–26, 2009
Richmond, Indiana July 12–26, 2009
Marquette, Michigan July 12–26, 2009
Brookings, South Dakota July 19–August 2, 2009
Thibodaux, Louisiana July 26–August 9, 2009
Kingsford, Michigan July 26–August 9, 2009
Marquette, Michigan July 26–August 9, 2009
Marquette, Michigan August 2–9, 2009
Mankato, Minnesota August 2–16, 2009
Santa Fe, New Mexico August 9–23, 2009
Brookings, South Dakota August 9–23, 2009
Kalispell, Montana August 9–30, 2009
Brookings, South Dakota August 30–September 13, 2009
Marquette, Michigan August 31–September 11, 2009
Benton Harbor, Michigan September 6–20, 2009
Grand Rapids, Minnesota September 13–27, 2009
Kalispell, Montana September 13–October 4, 2009
Brookings, South Dakota September 20–October 4, 2009
Newland, North Carolina* September 20–October 4, 2009
Benton Harbor, Michigan September 20–October 4, 2009
Florence, Massachusetts September 20–October 4, 2009
Santa Fe, New Mexico September 20–October 4, 2009
Waterloo, Iowa September 27–October 11, 2009
Bunnell, Florida October 4–18, 2009
Pedricktown, New Jersey October 11–25, 2009
Rome, New York* October 11–25, 2009
Taos, New Mexico* October 18–November 1, 2009
Goldsboro, North Carolina October 18–November 1, 2009
Thibodaux, Louisiana October 18–November 1, 2009
Las Cruces, New Mexico October 18–November 1, 2009
Bunnell, Florida November 1–15, 2009
Las Cruces, New Mexico November 1–15, 2009
Dade City, Florida November 8–22, 2009
Thibodaux, Louisiana November 8–22, 2009
Las Cruces, New Mexico November 15–29, 2009
Thibodaux, Louisiana November 29–December 13, 2009
Dade City, Florida December 6–20, 2009
Bunnell, Florida January 10–24, 2010
Dade City, Florida January 10–24, 2010
Alice, Texas* January 10–30, 2010
Dade City, Florida February 14–28, 2010
Alice, Texas* February 21–March 13, 2010
Leland, Mississippi March 7-21, 2010
Note: Builds are automatically scheduled from Sunday to Sunday, though builds typically end on Friday evening with Saturday departure. Your team leader or affiliate host will inform you of your build’s exact end date.
*This build is currently at capacity. If you would like to be put on the waitlist for a full build, please contact the RV Coordinator at 1-800-422-4828, ext. 7534; 229-410-7534; or rvinfodesk@habitat.org.
There are many affiliates continually hosting RV Care-A-Vanners. View ongoing builds now at:
http://www.habitat.org/rv/ongoing_builds.aspx .
Escapees BOF: Habitat For Humanity Newsletter
Vol 8 Issue 2 - April 2009
BOF Officers:
Rich & Jan Harper, President
Jim & Kathy McBride, Vice-President
Secretary - Volunteer needed
Sally Hedberg, Treasurer
Non-elected:
Allen Downs, Data Base, Membership & Email
Wagon Master - Volunteer needed
Colleen Moore, Historian
Newsletter Editor - Volunteer needed
Denny & Susie Orr, Chapter & BOF Coordinators
Contacts:
BOF
email address - hfhbof@escapees.com
Website - http://www.escapees.com/h4h/
Yahoo Group - http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/escapees_HFH_BOF
Voicemail info - 888-757-7701 ext. 8085.
Care-A-Vanners
rvinfodesk@habitat.org
Phone: 1-800-Habitat (422-4828) ext. 7530 or 229-410-7530
Habitat For Humanity
www.habitat.org
President’s Message
We were not able to travel this winter, and therefore have not participated in any builds recently. We are always asking our membership to contribute to the newsletter, items of interest, or articles on builds they have attended. Our member survey indicates that most of you participate in one build a year. Many of you contribute significantly more than that. We sure could use your feedback and information on builds attended to share with our members. Articles are accepted at any time and will be printed in the subsequent newsletters. We try to announce upcoming builds that our members will be doing in months ahead. Hopefully to have other Escapees sign up also. We have had some new BoF members participate, fellowship & enjoy the build experience. We believe in this program because it is not a give away, it is an opportunity. It lifts a family up, gives them confidence that THEY CAN make it happen...Our goal is to involve more people in this program and to help struggling families help themselves one at a time. Our part is easy, hands on construction. Each affiliate shoulders the success of their families. There are Habitat
builds all over the US. Let us know where you’ve been & where you’re going. Look forward to meeting more of you this coming year, and hopefully renewing old friendships.
We encourage all members to attend the Escapade in Sedalia, Missouri,24-29 May 2009. Linda andLynn Laymon will be presenting an updated HFH Seminar. We plan on having the same format as last
year with the HFH Seminar followed by a brief business meeting and then
a Social hour. Also for members that would be interested in attending a Team Leader Training session in conjunction with the ‘09 Escapade, please Email us at 3483janh@gmail.com.
Thanks to all of you for supporting our BOF, to those making a
difference in the lives of others with
their time & talents. Thanks to our HFH BOF elected & appointed volunteers.
HELP WANTED: SECRETARY, WAGON MASTER & NEWSLETTER EDITOR !!
No experience needed, on the job training provided!! Please consider one
of these positions
HUGS Rich & Jan Harper
Before & After Builds
NOTE: To encourage others to sign-up for builds, let us know what builds
you are planning
and to help other members learn about builds at the various Affiliates,
Please forward
your build experiences to Jan Harper 3483janh@gmail.com
A number of Build Opportunities are listed below with some details about
the build & camping
facilities. You can sign up for these builds by calling Jwana Washington at
the Care-A-
Vanner desk 800-422-4828 ext 7530. or 229 410 7530
Based on personal feedback from members we can recommend the builds in
Richmond, Brooking, &
Pagosa Springs. The Emails on the other two build Opportunities-
Chillicothe, MO and Greensburg,
Kansas contains all the information that we currently have. Request
feedback from members that
participate in either of these builds.
Before: Richmond, IN September 27 - Oct 11, 2009
Volunteers are needed for the following All Escapee HFH BOF Build
September 27 - Oct 11, 2009 Greater Richmond HFH Richmond, IN. FHU No Cost
Please help Bill Oates get this build filled up – Invite your Escapee
friends. If you haven't participated
in any builds, find out what it's all about & have a great time with
other Escapees. This Build Site is great
places to learn about what the HFH BOF is all about.
Before: Brookings, South Dakota 2009 Builds
“We just loved having you with us last year in Brookings, South Dakota!
We want to personally invite
you to join us again for fun, fellowship and a great build experience.
Our plans are made for 2009++8 new Habitat Homes ++ and we would so
appreciate having you
become a part of one or more of these builds. Each of our 6
Care-A-Vanner build weeks are
7 – 20 June; 28 June – 11 July; 19 July – 1 August; 9 - 22 August ;30
August – 12 September; and 20
September – 3 October
You will be able to use the Larson Park RV site which has water and
electricity (located at 2333
Eastbrook Drive). Camping is FREE. It is quite pretty — has several big
pines to put your lawn chairs
under and grills. You will have a gray water pick-up each week. Larson
Mfg. also allows you to use their
recreation facility with a swimming pool.
On your first evening with us, we will have a meal and get-together in
the Larson Cafeteria to meet
one another, meet your crew leaders and the Habitat stall’. At that time
I’ll have some Brookings
handout information and gifts for each of you. Please call if you have
any questions or if I can be of any
assistance (605-692-5601). Our mailing address is P.O. Box 412,
Brookings, SD 57006. Our email address
is bahth3@msn.com.
Hope to see you Soon!
Connie Swain Associate Executive Director
Before: Pagosa Springs 2009 Builds. May 31 - June 13 & July 5 - July 18
From: Cindi Galabota [mailto:cindihabitatarchuleta@centurytel.net]
Subject: Habitat for Humanity Pagosa Springs 2009 Build!
The first CAV group is from May 31 - June 13. During this time
volunteers will be mostly working on
framing, roofing, siding, and windows. We are requesting 8 rigs.
The second CAV group is from July 5 - July 18. During this time
volunteers will be mostly working on
drywall and painting.
As always, delicious lunches will be served from our hard working lunch
volunteers and a good time
will be had by all. We are looking foward to seeing all of you this
summer! If you have any questions
or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me at any time at 970-264-6960.
Camping will be at Elk Meadows east of town Rate - $200 for two weeks
FHU; $15/day for extra days
Sincerely,
Cindi Galabota Administrative Director
PO Box 2827
Pagosa Springs, CO 81147 970-264-6960
www.habitatcolorado.org/Archuleta
Before: PRE-ESCAPADE BUILD--CHILLICOTHE, MO. May 3rd-May 17th
Location 60 miles East of St Joseph & 90 miles north of Sedalia. May
3rd-May 17th. I have no information
other than the following write up I received following an inquiry I sent
to this affiliate.
I'm a board member and coordinate building activities. We are a small
affiliate and build one home a
year. We have had Care-a-Vanners here for the past 7 or 8 years, many of
then returning each year.
There is a local church camp that has parking available with electric
and water. I know they have 30
amp hook ups, I'm not sure about 50's. There is no charge to park there,
but I know in the past the
crew has made a donation to the camp.
We provide meals at lunch during the two weeks. This ranges from
sandwiches to pizza, to full hot
meals.
We are close to a large Amish community that many have found interesting
in the past. We have a
great public golf course that lots of folks have used while here. The
crew has access to the local YMCA,
so shower facilities are nice.
As for the build, it is much like a family reunion for us here in
Chillicothe. I know several of the folks
that have already signed up have been here 6 or 7 years in a row. We try
to have a very organized and
fun build. You will start with a subfloor and all of the layout
complete, and in two weeks we like to
have the siding complete and most of the drywall done when you leave (to
give you an idea on how
much progress we make).
Feel free to e-mail if you have further questions. We'd love to have
some of your group here with us.
We love meeting new folks every year.
Thanks, Tony Figg Toying@dishmail.net
Before: POTENTIAL PRE-ESCAPADE BUILD-- Greensburg, Kansas
Received the following series of Emails regarding Build Opportunity at
this Site which is about 100
miles west of Wichita , KS.
From: Ken Pace [mailto:ken@rvpaces.com]
Subject: Habitat Suggestion
A fellow Escapee here in San Diego Country has a suggestion for the
Habitat chapter. There is a town
in Kansas, Greensburg, that was wiped out two years ago in a tornado and
they are trying to rebuild it
with help from the government making it a "green" town and several movie
stars are helping and they
need lots more help. It is just off highway 54 and 183.
My suggestion is the week before the Escapade members of the Habitat BOF
have a prerally there and
put in a week's work. It is a perfect stop for West Coast Habitaters on
the way to Sedalia. They have a
dozen hookup sites for us I understand.
I suggest you contact the local man in town coordinating this rebuilding
to get full details. His name is
Steve Dawson, sdawson1107@sbcglobal.net.
Reply to Jan Harper
From: Steven Dawson [mailto:sdawson1107@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: Tornado Rebuilding efforts
We are always happy to have RV's come by to help us. Since most of our
community was destroyed in
May of 07 we have come a long way back. We lost about 500 homes
destroyed in town and we have
had 181 new home permits issued since then. We have several self-help
homes going up through
Mennonite housing. Currently they have 13 left to complete and are
looking at the end of October for
total completion. We also have several families that have been able to
move into the homes but the
basements still need to be finished out. We also have some people with
rental homes are just now
being able to start working on them because they have been working on
their own homes first. The
only way we are going to have affordable rentals is to get the ones
repaired on the side of town that
was not totally destroyed.
We also have many other type of jobs that are for unskilled as well, so
we will not run out of things for
volunteers for quite a while.
I hope this gives you an idea of our community needs at this time. I
have an area that camper can hook
up, it is not a true campground but I have 12 electric hookups and 2
dump sites but can move plastic
sewer lines to make it a 6 dump site, and only 1 water line but I have
had up to 10 campers parked
there at one time for 5 weeks and no one had a problem with water. For
any one using that site this
summer there is no charge as the local Lions Club pays the utilities and
will until next fall.
There are some other camp sites available for a fee of about $10 per day.
My contact info is easiest by email but my cell phone # is 620-546-4576
of by mail at
402 W. Florida, Greensburg KS. 67054
EDITOR NOTE: This Greensburg, KS Rebuilding effort is supported by the
Wichita, KS Habitat Affiliate.
After: Slidell, LA Build A NEWCOMERS VIEW OF HABITAT
Habitat is not the only thing that Faye Schultz and Jim Wilson are new at.
There’s marriage (one and one half years), RVing (one and a half years),
Escapees (one and a half
years), Habitat BOF (seven months), full timing (seven months). But
doing a Habitat build is one thing
they have been talking about doing since they started dating four years
ago.
Faye and I joined the Habitat BOF at the Escapade in Gillette in 2008
and started looking for the right
opportunity. It presented itself this year in Slidell, LA with the East
St.Tamany HFH group. We were
going to be passing through Louisiana on our way west at the time of one
of their builds so we
contacted the HFH Care-A-Vanner coordinator and signed up. We received a
comprehensive package
from ESTHFH outlining locations, expectations and times involved. We
even made an early trip to
Slidell to make contact and scope out the RV Park.
The package we received said we started at 6:50AM each day and would
work Monday thru Saturday.
We weren’t wild about the 6:50 am start time (the weather in Slidell in
February is unstable to say the
least) but decided to go through with the two week commitment. Slidell’s
location is great because it
is very close to New Orleans and, after all, Mardi Gras had started all
over the area.
When we arrived at the RV park on January 30 we found the start time was
right but thankfully we
didn’t have to work on Saturday. We also found that we had to provide
our own lunches so a trip to
Wal-Mart was in order. The park had about 20 sites and was located
adjacent to a Baptist church. It
had full hook-ups, a Port-a-Potty and a free laundry but that was it as
far as amenities. The location
was great because it was only about 2 miles from the HFH office and only
another mile to the building
sites.
By Sunday night the other RVers had arrived at the small RV park and we
were fast becoming friends.
The great people we worked with were definitely the best part of the
build and made the cold, rain,
mud, and aching muscles worthwhile.
Naturally, the first morning was rainy and cold. We gathered at the HFH
center for morning circle and
were told where to go to work. There was very little direct job
assignment so we all sort of gravitated
to jobs that we thought we could do. This continued throughout the two
week build. Luckily, some of
our group had previous build experience and construction skills so we
relied heavily on them and the
Americore staff for direction.
The build site had about nine homes under roof so our job was to put
aluminum siding, porch ceilings,
fascia trim on the exterior. We also did some door and window
installation. There was a catch to this
though. Slidell was one of the areas hit by Katrina in 2005 so all the
homes were on ten foot pilings and
required scaffolding for any job we did. This meant we had to move metal
scaffolds and steel walk
boards around any time we started a new home or a new part of the
existing home. We also had to
take down the walk boards each night, store them in a locked trailer and
re-install them the next
morning. This was the least fun part of the job.
We got to meet several of the prospective homeowners as they came on
site to work on their sweat
equity. It was always a joy to see them show up because they were all so
excited and appreciative.
We even met family members of HFH homeowners in town and got hugs for
what we were doing.
Faye and I agree that this was probably the hardest working contiguous
two weeks either of us have
had in our adult lives but was it worthwhile? Well we have already
signed up for the Escapees HFH
build in Richmond, IN in September and are looking at other opportunities.
REMEMBER – IT’S A HAND UP, NOT A HAND OUT
Faye Schultz and Jim Wilson
Note From Susie & Denny Orr - Chapter Directors Message
The Quartzsite Happy Hour was another hit in Jan 2009. The weather was
perfect --- sunny, warm and
only a little breeze. We thank all of those who helped to form our
circle of RVs and all of those who
joined the fun. Isn’t it neat to see friends and get those warm hugs? We
also thank our SKP
entertainers for an enjoyable afternoon of music – JoElla and Friends
and Ernie Webster with the
Quartzsite Swing Band.
The desert is showing beautiful signs of spring. As we all begin our
travels, do take time to check the
Events Calendar in the Escapees Magazine for rallies and luncheons along
the way. Hope to see you in
Sedalia, MO for Escapade May 24-29. Big Hugs – Susie & Denny Orr
Also – some editors highlight member information --- or have asked us
for something about us – so
here below is something to use if you would like to:
Who are Denny & Susie Orr? We are Escapees members who jumped right in
to the RVing lifestyle.
We sold the house, packed the RV and began our RVing adventures in July
1999, leaving Northwest
Indiana and our life long history there behind. Denny had been retired
for 5 years from Xerox and
Susie retired from nursing as we started this new lifestyle.
We had joined Escapees RV Club in May of 1999. Our first Escapade was
September 1999 – we didn’t
know many RVers. By Spring 2000 Escapade we had stopped at Turkey Creek
in Branson, MO, Jojoba
Hills in California, traveled to Quartzsite with a group of SKPs and
were introduced to the desert rallies,
went to the Baja with Mexican Connection, and then met the Roadrunners
at Chapter #7 rally. We
were hooked on SKPs!
During 2000 summer we traveled to the Northwest, meeting other Escapees
friends and joined the
Dogwood SKPs Chapter #35. We agreed to be on The Row at Fall Escapade.
And our SKP Family
continued to grow as we made lifelong friends. We volunteered for
Escapade Staff and there we
were – with more friends than ever in our stick house life. Being on the
Parking Crew at Spring
Escapade was always a hoot! From there we were asked to become Volunteer
Club Representatives
for Escapees. We enjoy going to rallies and have from the very
beginning! Working with Adele and
Dan Clifton, we were then asked to become their assistants. Adele
however, died shortly thereafter.
And there we were --- Chapter Directors!
The last five years have been exciting for us as we have continued to
visit chapter/c-bof groups all
across the US and Canada. Our family of friends continue to grow. And
even though we decided it
was time for some roots (we now have a house at North Ranch in Congress,
AZ) we still consider
ourselves RVers as we travel almost 8 months a year. If we have yet to
meet you, we hope to meet
you somewhere along the way.
SKP Hugs Susie & Denny Orr SKP#58118
CHARACTER...
... is doing the right thing when no one is watching!
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CLUB NEWS – Escapee Honored as Senior Citizen of the Year From Escapees RV Club
Ray Gearing, Escapee #12742, was honored by the Livingston-Polk County
Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 29, 2009,
as its Senior Citizen of the Year for 2008. He was recognized primarily
for his work to establish an affiliate of Habitat
for Humanity in Polk County. His efforts for Habitat began in Aug. 2001
when he and his then-friend Susie Dunaway
convened a steering committee to determine how to go about establishing
an affiliate and who would be involved.
Nineteen months later, the affiliate was officially a part of Habitat
for Humanity on April 1, 2003.
The first house was started in Dec. 2003, and the new owner took
possession in Mar. 2004. Many Escapees worked
on the house, and Escapees have worked on every house since. In fact,
two of the eight homes built to date have
been funded with Escapees’ donations and built with Escapees’ labor. Ray
served the new affiliate as its president
for the first three years after affiliation. For the past three years,
he has served as its volunteer executive director.
In addition to his work for Habitat for Humanity, Ray is an active
Rotarian, and he served as president of the
Livingston Rotary Club in 2007-2008. He has mentored a Livingston
student for nine years through his senior year
at Livingston High School. He is a Commit For Life blood donor to the
Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, and he
participates in blood drives and highway cleanups at Rainbow’s End.
He and his now-wife, Susie, live permanently at Rainbow’s End, although
Ray traveled full-time with his previous
wife, Ruth, until her illness brought them to the Escapees CARE Center
in 1996. Ruth died in 2003 with Alzheimer’s
disease.
Professionally, Ray spent 40 years as a Presbyterian minister, serving
churches in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and
Arkansas. He retired from the ministry in Little Rock in order to become
a full-time RVer. He still preaches on
occasion at a local Presbyterian church and is called upon at the park
for memorial services sometimes. He has four
daughters, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren scattered
across the country. One of his daughters
remarked, “You have set the bar pretty high for retirement!”
Volunteering Runs in the Family
Those of you who read last week’s Escapees Club News may recognize Susie
Gearing’s name as wife to Ray Gearing
(Senior of the Year award winner). Susie is not only the chairperson for
Escapees blood drives, she was a driving
force behind the establishment of Polk County Habitat for Humanity
affiliate and continues to serve as secretary to
the board as well as the chair of the resource development committee and
a member of Cochran’s Crossing Task
Force. Susie also teaches a home management class for prospective
Habitat homeowners.
As if that were not enough to fill her time, she also volunteers as a
gardener at Escapees CARE, coordinates the
Adopt-a-Highway program at Escapees national headquarters, is president
of Polk County Emergency Health Board,
is a member of the local Rotary Club, and meets with the local
Interagency Group on a monthly basis. In addition to
all that volunteering, she also holds down a part-time paid position as
copy editor for Escapees magazine. I don’t
know about you, but I got tired just writing this!
Escapees Habitat for Humanity Birds of a Feather
Renewal / New Member Application
The membership year is April 2009 – April 2010. You must be a current Escapee member.
Renewal__________ New member___________
Name(s) _________________________________________ SKP# __________ Date___________
Address _________________________________________________________________________
City _______________________________________ State _______ ZIP_____________________
Email ___________________________________________________________________________
Phone(s) Home__________________________Cell______________________________________
Type of Rig (MHA, MHC, 5W, TLR, TrkCmpr) _____________ Length _________ # of slides______
Number of HFH builds attended in 2008______ Have you served as a build Team Leader?______
How many builds do you attend in a typical year?___________
The HFH BoF plans to publish a member roster. May we include your email address?__________
How would you like to receive your HFH BoF newsletter? (check one or more options):
By email as a .PDF file _______ By email as a plain text file________ By US mail ______
I want _____ BOF-HFH decals and have enclosed $1.00 for each, plus 42 cents for postage.
Dues are $5/year Checks should be made out to: HFH BoF,
and mailed to: Allen Downs, 120 Rainbow Dr #2045, Livingston, TX 77399-1020.
Please Write “US Funds” on Canadian checks – Thank you.
That’s it – you’re done! Thank you for your renewal.
Welcome New Members
We welcome the following new members since the last newsletter:
John & Catherine Edgar SKP 53563
Susan Dona & Bill Brown SKP 87075
Cheryl Browne SKP 102212
HFH BOF Current Membership
The Club currently has 179 Active paid members plus 8 Honorary members.
I thank the Members
who keep their membership current - 10 renewals since last newletter.
Please see the following
article by Allen Downs which addresses the use of the questions on the
Membership/Renewal form
______________________________________________________________________________
Notes from the Membership Guy
It’s time to renew!
It’s April and Spring is here. So is the end of the HFH BoF membership
year; the new year starts May
first. Of our 179 active members, 90 of you have already renewed, but
the remaining 89 will be
expiring at the end of this month. How do you know which group you
belong to? If you received this
newsletter by email, check the “To:” line. If you received it by snail
mail, check your address label.
Both will tell you when it is time to renew. If that time is now, just
fill out the application/renewal form
that you will find in this newsletter, or on the HFH BoF web site
www.escapees.com/h4h . And
please consider a multi-year renewal. A check for $10 or $15 will renew
your membership for 2 or 3
years and save you future effort, and postage.
Recently married? New SO (Significant Other)?
Your HFH BoF membership can include everyone that
shares your SKP number. After adding your new honey to your SKP
membership, just add their name
to your HFH BoF renewal.
Why do we ask all those questions?
The application/renewal form asks a lot of questions, and you may wonder
why. Name, address,
phone and email are so we can identify and contact you. We ask for your
SKP number so we can verify
that you are an active SKP (a BoF membership requirement). We ask
information about your rig for
Care-a-Vanners who have requested it to help assign parking at builds.
Number of builds and team
leader questions are to give us an idea of how active our membership is.
We have learned, for
example, that our members average almost one build per year. We also ask
your permission to include
your email address in the membership directory which is included with
the newsletter periodically.
There are also three choices for how to receive your newsletter.
How do you like to receive your newsletter?
We offer you three options and you can choose one, two, or all three;
just mark your choice on the
renewal form.
The first, and in my opinion, best option is by email in Portable
Document Format (.PDF). This version
requires that you have Adobe Reader (Almost every computer does, but if
yours is missing, it is
available free from Adobe at http://get.adobe.com/reader ).
Using PDF, you will see the newsletter formatted just like the hard copy
version, but in color: if the
editor used colors you will get them all, and any pictures will appear
in color and in better resolution
than the hard copy version. The file can be large (recent editions of
the newsletter have varied from
120K bytes to 800K bytes) so if you have given us a pocketmail address
or if you have a very slow
internet connection, it may not be the best choice for you. This version
is currently the choice of 107 of
our members, adds no weight to your rig and takes up no space.
The second choice is by email as a text file. The text version is
smaller than PDF but consists only of the
text of the newsletter; the formatting and any pictures are lost. This
would be a good choice for those
members who want to receive the newsletter by email but are restricted
to small emails or to no
attachments (the PDF file is sent as an attachment). This version is
currently a choice of 38 of our
members.
The third and final choice is a hard copy version sent by US mail. If
you don’t have a computer or an
email address, this is for you. The hard copy version is in black and
white and usually arrives a bit later
than the email versions. Hard copy has been chosen by 68 members.
See you at Escapade
If your membership expires this month, I look forward to receiving your
renewal in the mail soon, and
I look forward to seeing many of you at Escapade, 24-29 May 2009, in
Sedalia, Missouri.
Allen Downs, Membership Guy
allendowns{at}escapees.com 575 915-6969
______________________________________________________________________________
HFH INTERNATIONAL RV CARE-A-VANNERS UPDATES
RV Care-A-Vanner Updates are sent out only by Email. Anyone can sign up
for the e-mail list at
http://www.habitat.org/rv/rv_lyris_subscription_form.aspx.
If you are not currently getting the monthly ‘Habitat Extra’ Emailed to
you - You can subscribe on the
HFHI Web Site ; http://www.habitat.org/
For HFH Care-A- Vanner news and information visit
http://www.habitat.org/rv/. This web page
provides information about: Build Listing; Hurricane Rebuilding; Contact
Info; Donate /Support; Email
List; Get Involved; Join a Build; Ongoing Builds
________________________________________________________________
Ongoing building opportunities
There are many affiliates continually hosting RV Care-A-Vanners. These
Builds can also be viewed at:
http://www.habitat.org/rv/ongoing_builds.aspx.
Upon departure from an ongoing build, please contact the RV
Care-A-Vanner office at (800) 422-4828,
Ext. 7534 or rvinfodesk@habitat.org to report the number of hours you worked.
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Your help please: Some of our newsletters have come back because of invalid email or US mail addresses. If you're an HFH BoF member, and you've changed your email or home address recently, please help us stay in touch by sending your name, SKP Number, and new email or home address to hfhbof@escapees.com or Allen Downs 120 Rainbow Drive #2045, Livingston TX 77399-1020. Thanks.
********************************************************************************************************************************
Upcoming Rallies and EventsBOF Voice Mail Information: 888-757-7701 ext. 8085 Please call this Voice Mail number for the latest Habitat for Humanity Birds of a Feather Group information. BOF OfficersElected:
• President: Rich & Jan Harper SKP 86920
• Vice President: Jim & Kathy McBride SKP 42623
• Treasurer: Sally Hedberg SKP 49586
• Secretary: Vacant – Looking for a Volunteer
Appointed:
• Newsletter Editor/Publisher: Vacant - Looking for a Volunteer
–-- A newsletter is published in January, April, July and October
• Membership Database, Webmaster and Email: Allen Downs SKP 45017
• Historian: Collen Moore SKP 85514
• Wagon Master/Build Coordinator for the BoF HFH: Vacant – Looking for a Volunteer
For more information, please contact:
E-Mail: Habitat for Humanity Birds of a Feather Group Mailing address:
Habitat for Humanity BoF
c/o Sally Hedberg
213 Rainbow Dr #11393
Livingston, TX 77399-2013 This page has been visited 4261 times since 20 November 2007. |
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