Habitat for Humanity May 2009 Volunteer Newsletter

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

New Staff Member

2

Volunteer Organizes Fundraiser

2

Habitat Wins Photo Contest

3

Volunteer Celebration Turnout

3

Jack-of-all-Trades Info Session

4

Data Entry Volunteers Awesome!

4

Events Calendar 5

This Month On Site

6

Membership Form

7

BBQ Time Again!

4

Volunteer News M A Y 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 5

"It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving." -- Mother Teresa

Jacks-of-all-Trades on our Burnaby build site Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8am to 4pm. Retired or semi-retired tradesmen, home handymen and reno-enthusiasts who feel comfortable on a construction site regardless of the task-at-hand would be perfect for this position

Crew Leaders on our Burnaby build site Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8am to 4pm. A Crew Leader is someone who can lead groups of unskilled volunteers on site projects, help familiarize them with site tools and techniques and make the on-site experience more comfortable for less-practiced volunteers. Previous knowledge of construction is useful but not essential. Most important is that Crew Leaders have transferable skills from a related field and the patience to help others learn

Site Hosts who can welcome site volunteers, ensure that they sign-in and sign the safety waiver properly, pick up and set out supplies for coffee breaks and lunch and ensure that the site is adequately supplied. Site Hosts work from 8am to 1:30pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday at our Burnaby Build Site

First Aid Attendants with Level 2 and 3 OFA for our Burnaby build site. A First Aid Attendant is needed almost every Thursday, Friday and Saturday on our Burnaby build site from 8am to 4pm

Carpenters, electricians, cabinet builders, fixer-uppers for Vancouver and Burnaby ReStores Monday through Saturday 9-5pm and our Burnaby Build Site Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8-4pm

Floor Helpers to help with shipping and receiving, organizing, pricing and stocking shelves in our Vancouver and Burnaby ReStores Monday through Saturday from 9-5pm

Cashiers/Customer Service Representatives to ring in sales, make change, and help answer customer calls and questions at our Vancouver and Burnaby ReStores Monday through Saturday from 9-5pm

Gardeners to tend to the Habitat Office parking lot and grounds Monday to Friday anytime

Data Entry specialists to help with backlog of volunteer hours that need to be put into our new database. Two shifts are available: 9-1pm or 1-4:30pm Tuesday to Friday at our office in Vancouver

Volunteer Positions Available

If you are interested in any of these positions please contact Tanya, Volunteer Coordinator, at 604-681-5618 ext. 23 or email [email protected]

V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 5 P A G E 2

Welcome to New Office Staff Member Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver would like to extend a warm welcome to its newest staff member, Florencia Achtem. Florencia is taking over for Carla Glasgow and is officially the ‘Office

Administrator’. She decided to work for Habitat because she likes to work for organizations that help strengthen communities and help people in need. With four years of non-profit experience,

Florencia is a great addition to our office. Welcome Florencia! We look forward to getting to know you and enjoying a harmonious working relationship for much time to come!

Sarah Zeigler has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver for the last couple of years and decided that she wanted to do even more for the organization.

She decided to host a fundraiser called Bike 2Belcarra which will take place on June 11, 2009. The event will be a cycle from Vancouver to Belcarra Regional Park (see photo to the right).

We sat down with Sarah to ask her how she came up with this idea and why she likes volunteering for Habitat so much.

How long have you been a volunteer?

I have been a volunteer with the local chapter since December of 2007. I attended a Global Village Build in 1998 in Beius, Romania with my dad and was so impressed by Habitat and the dedication of the volunteers that I decided I wanted to become an architect.

Why did you become a volunteer?

I am in the process of becoming a registered architect and I felt that I needed to supplement my technical knowledge with practical knowledge of construction in an open and learning-friendly environment. I think I will be a better and more compassionate designer for the experience I’ve had on-site with Habitat.

What do you like about volunteering for Habitat?

I love volunteering with Habitat because of the volunteers and the participant families I get to meet as they put in their required hours. I believe it is important for students, young professionals, and seasoned career veterans to make an investment and potentially life-changing difference in the lives of people around them. Habitat embraces that ideal and carries it out in a practical way that meets the need for affordable housing in the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

How did you come up with the idea for a cycling fundraiser?

I am a dedicated commuter cyclist because it is as fast as public transportation with the benefit of not having to go to the gym. Since many of my friends cycle or are as committed to affordable housing as I am, I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring my two social networks together in a fun cycling event.

What advice do you have for other volunteers who want to do more?

Dig in! The best way to learn about building a home or working on a construction site is to get your hands dirty and ask lots of questions. If you want to plan your own fundraising event, Habitat has a fantastic hosting website that is easy to use and a great way to get all your friends, family, and co-workers involved.

Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver would like to sincerely thank Sarah for going above and beyond in her role as volunteer. It’s because of special volunteers like Sarah that our partner families are able to move into their new homes. Thanks Sarah! Keep up the good work!

Volunteer Organizes Cycling Fundraiser for Habitat

Volunteer, Sarah Zeigler, is always thinking of more ways to help us out.

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 5

Volunteer Celebration a Night to Remember

Attention volunteers: Please remember to sign out at the end of your shift so that you can

receive full credit for your volunteer hours. If you don’t sign out at the end of your shift, we can only log .5 hours on your record.

Thanks!

Dedicated volunteers attend 21st Annual Volunteer Celebration at the Centre.

Habitat for Humanity would like to send out an extra special THANK YOU to all of its volunteers whether you attended

this event or not.

Habitat Wins Honourable Mention

Winning photo of volunteers who took part in our 2009 Women’s Build Day

The Youth Choir from Sarah McLachlan’s Music Outreach Program serenades all of our deserving volunteers at the Centre on April 30th, 2009

Congratulations to James on his starring role in the video shown at this presentation. It opened to rave reviews!

In celebration of volunteers, each year Volunteer BC holds a National Volunteer Week photo contest. This year’s theme was “SMILE for Volunteerism.”

Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver took this opportunity to showcase its special volunteers and sent in various photos.

The photo shown at the left was given an Honourable Mention in this year’s contest.

If you would like to see all the entries from the contest visit http://www.volunteerbc.bc.ca/events/

Join our Facebook group! It’s called Habitat for Humanity Greater

Vancouver and anyone can join. This is a great way to keep in touch with Habitat and your fellow volunteers.

See you there!


Mark your calendars for Sunday August 9th 2009! Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver will be holding its 2nd Annual Volunteer Recognition BBQ at Fraser River Park.

Last year over 100 people attended the BBQ which had to be relocated to the Vancouver ReStore because of torrential rains. The weather didn't stop anyone from coming and celebrating our special volunteers though!

Fully catered by Fogg n’ Suds, all in attendance enjoyed hamburgers, chips and pop. Other food, like the Italian sausages pictured to the right were donated by other generous sponsors.

This year, weather permitting, the BBQ will be held at the Fraser River Park and there will be more delicious food and great prizes for all of our deserving volunteers.

More details will be released closer to the date. Save the date!

Jack-of-All Trades Info Session Do you know anyone who is a Jack-of-all-Trades?

Someone who can fix just about anything and has completed renovation projects with little help from professionals?

Well, this is exactly the sort of volunteer Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver’s Burnaby build site needs.

We need people who can jump right in and help out no matter

which stage of construction we’re in and feel comfortable helping out.

We will be holding a Jack-of-All Trades Info Session on Saturday June 27th 2009 on our site at 8745 Government Street in Burnaby.

This info session will introduce new potential volunteers to our organization and include a tour of site and a chance to talk to

our site supervisor and other volunteers.

The session will start at 11:30am and last approximately an hour.

So if you know anyone who you think would make a good volunteer for us and is a typical Jack-of-All-Trades, contact Tanya at 604-681-5618 ext. 23 to register to attend this event.

Get Ready: 2nd Annual Volunteer Recognition BBQ

Volunteers and staff enjoyed the delicious feast put on by Fogg n’ Suds last year. Despite the rain it was a wonderful day!

DATA ENTRY VOLUNTEERS COME TO T HE RES C UE

Govin plugs away on volunteer hours logging

A special thanks to all of the volunteers who responded to our call for Data Entry help.

We have almost a year’s worth of volunteer hours to enter into our new database system and were panicking about how we were ever going to get it all updated.

After sending out one plea to all volunteers with Data Entry experience, a flood of responses came in.

Now, an army of volunteers is plugging away

daily at the project.

Volunteers who have already committed to helping are: Laura Barnes, Adolfo Diaz Almazan, Govin Roopla, Bernice Elliot, Bev McDowell, Mike Sychrava, Susan Peters and Susie Martin.

These volunteers have been coming in the office for four hour shifts on most weekdays. At this rate we will have the hours updated in no time! Thanks so much for helping with this. We are eternally grateful!

MAY 2009

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24/31

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JUNE 2009 Su Mo Tue Wed Th Fri Sat

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7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

Schedule of Events

May 1,2—Build Days

May 7,8,9—Build Days


May 18—Victoria Day

May 20—Volunteer Orientation


May 25—CMHC BC Golf Tournament


June 4, 5, 6—Build Days

June 11—YUPRE Golf Tournament


June 17—Volunteer Orientation


June 20—Vancouver ReStore Sale


V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 5 P A G E 5

AGM Coming up!! When: Wednesday June 3, 2009 at 6:30pm

Where: New Life Community Church, 8765 Government Street, Burnaby

Who: Everyone! In order to be eligible to vote, you must be a member. Membership is valid for one year and must be re-newed annually

What: Members will vote for the Habitat Board of Directors and a Special Resolution. Refreshments will be served

RSVP: By email to [email protected] or by phone to 604-681-5618 ext. 21 no later than May 29, 2009

GOLF TOURNAMENTS TO BENEFIT HABITAT

CMHC BC Regional is holding its 9th Annual Charity Golf Tournament on May 25, 2009 with proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity. The sign-in will begin at 11am, shotgun at 12:30pm and dinner at 7:30pm. This popular event usually sells out fast. Last year the golf tournament raised $14,000 for us!! If you would like more information please visit www.morgancreekgolf.com. Several volunteers will be sitting at the hole-in-one and reporting any entries. These volunteers will be doing this important job are Amey Lea, Mike Sychrava, Mark Roman and Don Janda. Thanks guys!

The Young Urban Professionals in Real Estate are holding their 2009 YUPRE Golf Tourna-ment. Last year was a smashing success and as a group they raised $10,000 towards Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver. They will be holding the event at Greenacres Golf Course in Rich-mond, on June 11th 2009. Tee off time is between 1-3pm and Tanya, Volunteer Coordinator, will be there to represent Habitat.

O P P O R T U N I T Y T O P U R C H A S E A F F O R D A B L E H O U S I N G

Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver is holding Information/Application Meetings on the following dates:

Saturday June 6, 2009 at 1pm

Wednesday June 10, 2009 at 7pm

Saturday June 13, 2009 at 1pm

To see if you or someone you know qualifies call Claudia at 604-681-5618 ext. 24

Don’t forget to renew your membership!

Just fill out the form on Page 7 and send it into the office. If you’re not a

member yet, please consider becoming one.

Come to the Vancouver ReStore on Saturday June 20th from 9am to 5pm

for the Interior Designers Institute of BC’s 1-Day sale/

fundraiser. The Institute will be selling donated products from their

suppliers to raise money for us. More details in the June newsletter.


THIS MONTH ON OUR BUILD S ITE

Special Thanks to Women in Trades, Collingwood High School, Tri-Cities Soroptimists, BC Housing, Steve Kungel

and his New West Secondary Plumbing class !

Victoria Lee, volunteer, hands over donation cheque to Terry Probert, Site Super-visor. The money, a Violet Richardson Award, was given to Victoria by the Soroptimists to recognize her volunteer activities in the community. Victoria then chose to give it to Habitat for Humanity, a cause close to her heart. Victoria brings a group of classmates out to the Burnaby build site once a month to volunteer.

‘Home Ground First’ Club from Collingwood High School with their leader Victoria Lee (fourth from the left).

Tri-Cities Soroptimists enjoy a sunny Saturday on our build site. You ladies were great. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm!

Steve Kungel, far right, and his class of New West Secondary plumbing students volunteering on our site two times in the last month. They are helping install plumbing on Phase 5.


M E M B E R S H I P A P P L I C A T I O N / R E N E W A L

Habitat for Humanity is an inclusive, non‐profit, non‐government organization seeking to eliminate poverty housing in Canada and around the world. Habitat builds simple, affordable houses and sells them at no profit and no interest to families in need of adequate shelter. Date: _____________________________ Name _______________________________________________________________ Occupation _________________________________

(please print clearly)

Address __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City ________________________________________ Postal Code________________________ Home# ________________________________ Email________________________________________________________________ Work# ____________________________ Cell# ______________________________ Fax# ________________________________ Yes! I will support Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver with a donation of $_____________ and OR the annual suggested minimum Membership fee of $20.00. For a total of $_____________.

If paying by credit card please complete the form below

Cheques can be made payable to Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver. Donations of $20 or more will receive an official tax receipt. Registered Charitable number 88198 3183 RR001 Fax to: 604‐326‐0122 or mail with your payment to PO Box 60577 Granville Park, Vancouver BC, V6H 4B9

WHAT BEING A MEMBER MEANS

As a member of Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver you will be entitled to: a yearly tax receipt for your membership fee, the “Blueprint” newsletter, an invitation to our Annual General Meeting and opportunities to participate in Habitat for Humanityʹs activities in the Vancouver area. The privacy of members is important and Habitat ensures that personal information is collected only for purposes of newsletter mailings, occasional correspondence and notices of events. Habitat Greater Vancouver has never sold or lent addresses to any third party and re‐spects all requests to be removed from mailing lists.

F O R O F F I C E U S E O N L Y

New Renewal Membership # ________ Date entered __ __/ __ __/ __ __ Tax receipt # ____________

VISA __ __ __ __/__ __ __ __/__ __ __ __/ __ __ __ __ Expiration Date ___/___

MC __ __ __ __/__ __ __ __/__ __ __ __/ __ __ __ __ Expiration Date ___/___

Amex# __ __ __ __/__ __ __ __/__ __ __ __/ __ __ __ __ Expiration Date ___/___

Signature _______________________________________

Habitat for Humanity May 2009 Volunteer Newsletter

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