Dear Friends, The 2016-17 year was filled with celebration and gratitude. We were joined by hundreds of our closest friends—together Letter from the Executive Director with hundreds of new friends--all who witnessed the power of working together to build homes, communities, and hope. Our year together reminds me of a prayer I came across recently: God who gives sight to the blind, give us eyes to see our brothers and sisters clearly. With eyes wide open, help us to know what it means to truly love our brothers and sisters. Amen. The year brought two unique build opportunities with St. Mark’s United Methodist Church and Lincoln Berean Church. Both congregations put God’s call to serve into action by each exclusively sponsoring an entire build project in their parking lots. Church members, Sunday school kids, and bible study groups joined together to raise the funds, build the homes, watch the houses being moved to their final lots, and celebrate the blessings a decent, affordable home provides a family. Beginning in March, we gathered to celebrate the beginning of our organization’s milestone build of its 150th home. It all started with the passion of a handful of community members and faith leaders who 29 years ago saw the need for decent, affordable housing in Lancaster County. Through the determination and labor of thousands of volunteers in wind and cold, heat and sunshine; and support from donors and community organizations and companies, more than 700 individuals have been able to build strength, stability, and selfreliance through affordable shelter in Lincoln and Lancaster County. As we reflected on this milestone build, momentum didn’t stop. As I write this letter we are currently building house number 155. Another big change this year, was the building and moving of our administrative office. We’d outgrown the usable office space at the old office, making it hard to have private conversations with homeowners; the building needed technological updating that would have been very costly; and the warehouse areas were no longer conducive to efficient home building. No funds donated for the purpose of homebuilding were used for the new office build. We sold our previous office building and used those funds for the materials and subcontractors needed to construct our new facility. The lot we built on was donated to Habitat Lincoln, and our construction crew volunteered extra time to build the office. Many of our partners and group volunteers also helped build the office and offered inkind donations. We are excited for the opportunity our new office space provides. It allows us to operate efficiently and effectively as a team. We also see the future possibilities of growing our impact, homeowner education and training, and ultimately serving more families in need of decent shelter. Within the following pages of the newsletter you can see how your support provides life changing outcomes when a family has a decent and affordable HOME. Sincerely, Josh Hanshaw, executive director 1
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