Summer 2020 HabiChat: Stronger Together, Even When We're Apart

HabiChat Volume 40, Issue 3, Summer 2020

Stronger Together, Even When We’re Apart

pensacolahabitat.org rethinkhabitat.org

Stronger Together Board of Directors Mei Davis Chairwomen

Gene Franklin Vice Chairman Mike Adkins Treasurer Skip Vogelsang Secretary Al Coby Dawn Brazwell Michele Dumond Rabbi Joel Fleekop Siobhan Gallagher Julie Griffin Sandra Hodges Pat Hubbard Mike Lanwehr Matt Newcomer Dr. Charles Reese Betty Salter Josh Womack Karen Wright

by Charlotte Crane Pensacola Habitat for Humanity has known extraordinary times; in close to 39 years of home building, the organization has created 1,400 homes. Land was available for home sites, community members volunteered to wield hammers, donors provided money for supplies, and, always, there were people aspiring to own a home of their own.

The years also brought challenges – the 2008 economic collapse, a hurricane, or short-term shortages of land or dollars. Those obstacles were temporary, but none, in retrospect, seem as daunting as today’s coronavirus pandemic with its unknown end.

Pensacola Habitat’s leaders are confident the organization will prevail again. Looking back, Betty Salter, Pensacola Habitat’s former executive director for 21 years, notes, “We had dedicated committed volunteers, businesses, banks, churches, newspapers, TV and radio stations that made this possible. God always sent who we needed, what we needed, when we needed it.”

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan was one big disaster, recalls Salter: “Our large warehouse front end was blown out with bricks across Guillemard Street.

Architect Sam Marshall drew plans and supervised Pensacola Habitat the repairs at no cost.

Volunteers boarded it up the next day, and we has prevailed opened the office with no electric power or land line before... telephone. None of the homes built by Pensacola Habitat were damaged except some flooding and a fallen tree…In a few days, volunteers and homebuyer applicants were working on the houses we had under construction.”

it will again.

In 2008, the economic frenzy came. For Pensacola Habitat, this national setback was first a construction brake but then an accelerant, inspiring the national Neighborhood Stabilization Program to offer grants to Habitat affiliates for speed-building homes in local neighborhoods needing improvement. Pensacola Habitat’s $24 million dollar grant, one of the seven largest nationally, financed 373 new homes. That deadline was met.

As Pensacola Habitat approached its fourth decade of supplying quality affordable homeownership, it also became more involved in community improvement. It joined Neighborhood Revitalization, a program to make entire neighborhoods more friendly, interesting, safe, and fun – including for kids. Pensacola Habitat for Humanity created newer housing designs, winning a first-place award in 2019 in the annual Parade of Homes $210,000 and below category. It launched an annual Food Truck Festival for hometown folk and visiting tourists, and then its adventurous leaders began an annual Global Village trip, sharing with less-developed countries Pensacola Habitat’s motto that everybody deserves a decent place to live.

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. REGISTRATION # CH37256

Would a community organization so resilient and so resourceful that has grown from building one house a year to 1,400-plus total since 1981, attracted thousands of volunteers, and overcome many challenges be able to withstand a ravaging virus?

Much is unknown about Covid-19.

However, the community can trust Pensacola Habitat for Humanity to stay strong.

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HabiChat Summer 2020: Stronger Together

Embracing “Infinite Hope” During Hopeless Times

by Al Henderson

Reading timeless quotes from prominent leaders is inspiring because their purpose for making that statement was not self-serving but to serve a higher purpose inevitably reaching further than they could imagine. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the most quoted leaders during times of crisis. His quote, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope,” is easily one of my favorites that receives little attention. In my humble opinion, the lowest place a person can be is “hopeless.” Their faith has been tested far past the point average people endure and reintegrate to become productive citizens. Since I was originally asked to write this article, our staff, organization, community, and country have been enduring situations giving the appearance of “We must accept finite disappointment, Fortunately, our very hopelessness. but never lose mission is deeply rooted in a ministry dedicated to “building homes, communities, and HOPE.” Over 60 -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. years ago, divine intervention gave Clarence Jordan and Millard Fuller the bold notion that every person deserves a decent place to live. They laid the foundation for Pensacola Habitat for Humanity to use a model of servitude by partnering with our staff, faith community, businesses, community-conscience individuals, and, of course, our families. Following recommendations to flatten the COVID-19 curve, we minimized our community efforts but getting back to our core mission has been challenging. Like everyone else, we had to create a fluid plan nimble enough to allow us to stay true to our mission but flexible enough to address “how” we safely implement new norms.

Boldly, Pensacola Habitat has used this time to rededicate ourselves and put God’s

infinite hope.”

Community Strong

by Crystal Scott

COVID-19 has affected each of us differently! While some struggled to adjust to being physically distanced, some welcomed the space. I know my house was anything but calm while working from home. I was, however, able to potty train my enthusiastic two-year-old and experience my seven-month-old crawl for the first time! For those memories, I am extremely grateful.

I have called Pensacola home for almost 20 years, and I know all too well that when we come together as

a community, we are loud and proud. I am happy to report these crazy times have been no different. While our offices were closed over the past eight weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, support has continued to pour in because the need for affordable homeownership has never been clearer. Giving people hope through an affordable mortgage is what we have done best for almost 40 years.

Our stakeholders are the backbone of Pensacola Habitat, and support for our mission work is as important now as it always has been. During these times, when things are anything but normal, our staff, board, and stakeholders stay committed to serving.

We build up communities, and we build up people. Neither would be possible

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love into action. To build our 1,400th home in this community, we have to find creative ways to re-engage our volunteers, provide opportunities for our donors, work closer with our faith community, implement new methods of partnering with our families, and remain vigilant holding steadfast to our core belief of providing hope when times appear hopeless. While our doors appear to be partially opened to our community, we have not turned our backs on the people we serve. The lights are on, our staff is working, our families remain committed, and Habakkuk, a book in the bible, reminds us that God has not forsaken us as we patiently abide in faith. We are just as eager as you to continue building homes for our families, participating in community redevelopment, and providing infinite hope for families who are hopeless. God Bless! without our donors allowing us the means and our volunteers providing the hands. Both bring people together.

I often talk about the Pensacola Habitat volunteer experience: on any given day, you will have hopeful homebuyers who are currently in our program and enthusiastic Pensacola Habitat crew leaders all hammering on the same home with prominent community leaders and veteran volunteers. We all have that passion and know that supporting the work of Pensacola Habitat is profoundly changing lives and communities. We are all faithful and are working toward a shared vision where every single person has a decent place to live. For this, we are forever grateful. pensacolahabitat.org/donate

Communicating Differently

Going Virtual

by Kristi Mink

by Christina Enriquez During a time of uncertain and unknown territory, what has helped me most is to look for something positive each day. This practice has forced me to stop and smell the roses. Now, I enjoy the little things in life more, like nature and spending some much-needed quality time with family.

However, my job hasn’t slowed down one bit. As the Communications Associate at Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, I am tasked with communicating with the community. Due to social distancing, this has been a difficult task.

“Living disconnected lives goes against human nature. We crave meaningful ties with each other and a sense of belonging. We just can’t be truly happy without these things—without a group of people who know us, ‘get’ us, and help us make sense of our lives. Vibrant communities bring people together. They’re filled with opportunities for civic engagement and social interaction.” –Quint Studer With that said, the communications team, composed of Kristin O’Bryan, Courtney Hawkins, and I have been exhausting all of our options to stay connected with the community and bringing people together. Zoom and Microsoft Teams have become our go-to ways to communicate virtually.

It has been a challenge, but also added some spunk into what we do. We have had to think abstractly and to invent fresh new ideas for our new normal. Being in the communications field has shown me the importance of being versatile and ever-changing; this is nothing new. During COVID-19, my abilities have been put to the test, and I accept the challenges ahead.

Change isn’t always a bad thing; as a team, our internal communications have become more robust. We are learning new and fun ways to execute our jobs. For example, on May 5th, we hosted a virtual HabiHour, where we had people from the community join us on a Zoom call with their favorite beverage. We got the chance to talk about all things Pensacola Habitat for Humanity and connect as a community.

The Communications Team is planning to connect with YOU! Follow us on all our digital platforms for the most up to date information on what we are doing next.

COVID-19 has affected my life and work in different ways. I am big on health and fitness, so the biggest struggle for me personally has been adjusting and staying motivated with home workouts. Other than that, I am a big homebody, so my introvert side hasn’t minded the slower lifestyle.

However, my work could not be more opposite. My job revolves around community engagement and large crowded gatherings. Although, community engagement is possible with our current situation, the cease of large gatherings has forced change.

This has pushed me to look outside of the box and to produce unique ways of getting everyone together in this difficult time. Currently, I am planning a virtual Community Summit coming up in August, so be on the lookout for that very soon! Additionally, our Women Build event has already started with fundraising! I have a lot of fun virtual ideas for the Women Build Kickoff. Stay tuned! We will get through this together!

Get Involved: womenbuild.pensacolahabitat.org Pensaco

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HabiChat Summer 2020: Stronger Together

ReStoring Knowledge at the ReStore

by Clay Copeland because I see the convenience, quality, and necessity of these businesses.

Two shoppers perusing appliances at the ReStore

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to some unique challenges and complications along with some positive takeaways worth considering.

Personally, I have been trying many services for the first time, including grocery delivery, direct-order goods, and even in-home entertainment. Even after the pandemic passes, I will continue to use these services

As COVID-19 has taken travel and in-person visits off the table, we are using communication tools such as Skype, FaceTime, and Zoom to stay connected with co-workers. I once felt opposed to having meetings this way before the pandemic; however, I am now more accustomed to this new way of staying in touch and socializing. It is comfortable and convenient to connect this way, and I will continue using these platforms.

using our experience on the front lines to shift to helping others through teaching and coaching.

Our ReStore team has taken this terrible situation and used it as a catalyst togalvanize our purpose of building affordable housing.

We’re Open!

Visit pensacolarestore.com for hours.

My vision for the remaining chapters of my life will not feature a beach in Hawaii or an RV as the central focus. Instead, I am thinking about how I can pass on the torch of experience. As a business model at the ReStore, we are starting to look at succession plans

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AmeriCorps Member at 2013 Build-a-Thon

Ramping Up the Neighborhood

by Peggy Fowler The Neighborhood Revitalization (NR) Department manages two programs: Community Development and Home Improvements. COVID-19 has not stopped department operations except for our ability to work personally with neighborhood associations and volunteers. This diminishes our ability to engage in community-building projects and, to a lesser extent, with administering home improvement projects.

The community development aspects of the NR Department have been affected due to safe social distancing and the inability to work with volunteer groups. Community cleanups (Rock-the-Block), A Brush With Kindness (ABWK) exterior home painting projects, and other neighborhood enhancement activities have been postponed, as well as plans for residential leadership training courses. The Home Improvements program has experienced delays in processing and scheduling home repairs (i.e. siding, roofing, code enforcement issues, etc.); however, the handicapped accessible ramp-building program has not been affected.

The accessibility ramp-building program has been able to progress “normally,” and we have extended and expanded our ongoing ramp partnership with Escambia County initiated in early 2019 as a pilot. This

pensacolahabitat.org/neighborhood-revitalization

Anticipating Your Return

Before COVID-19, the Community Engagement department was steadily

partnership has the County supplying funds for ramp building materials and Pensacola Habitat providing the labor to construct the ramps – either paid contractors and/or, when safe, volunteers. Accessible ramps are typically an emergency need, so we are excited to continue building ramps during COVID-19 and trying to keep up with the demand for these facilities.

Two volunteers helping during Build-a-Thon in 2013

by Imani Davis

COVID-19 has been quite an adjustment from life as we knew it, to our new normal. Initially, this was a challenge before realizing releasing former ideals and routines could make this transition an optimistic one. We can do this by taking time to step back and to plan how to move forward positively in our community. The pandemic’s forced pause on our old life has also caused us to be more considerate of our neighbors’ and our own personal health.

A ramp build recipient in Montclair

planning our annual community events such as Collegiate Challenge, the Pensacola Food Truck Festival, and Faith Build and fulfilling our day-to-day office tasks. My job, Volunteer Services Coordinator, revolves around volunteers; therefore, I was actively engaging and coordinating volunteers for our events, construction, ReStore, and office volunteer opportunities.

Once the outbreak reached the US and the stay-at-home orders were issued, the rest of Collegiate Challenge was cancelled along with the impending Faith Build week in May. Along with the postponement of the Pensacola Food

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Truck Festival and our worksite closures, which are all volunteer-driven opportunities, volunteer services have slowed down.

We continue to meet regularly as a department via online and uplift each other and our community through kind words. During this time, we are actively communicating with our volunteers about the affiliate’s updates and keeping records of newly interested volunteers as we await their return.

Email volunteer@pensacolahabitat.org if you’d like to be a part of that new list!

HabiChat Summer 2020: Stronger Together

Pensacola Habitat’s Essential Workers

by Dianne McMaster Any employee of any finance department of any organization is deemed essential from day one.

Businesses still have bills to pay, deposits to be made, financial statements to be prepared, payroll to be done, and analysis to be completed. Pensacola Habitat’s finance staff is no different. However, we still have families and not just the ones waiting for us at home. Our homebuyers are a part of the Pensacola Habitat family. The heart of our organization is the genuine affection and love we have for the families we serve. Every transaction serves a purpose to serve our families. Bills are paid to suppliers to build our homes, and the majority of those suppliers are from our community. An analysis is performed to stretch our cash as far as humanly possible to serve more families.

The office closure was to keep people safe including the staff and the families that still come inside to pay their mortgages each month.

We have nearly 1,000 families and roughly 60% of those use our drop box or enter the office each month to make payments, and we have a deep connection to and miss those families. As a part of the new normal, we asked all our families to mail their payments or use the drop box outside the office. We used the extra time to brainstorm new ideas and to streamline the payment process for ourselves and those we serve.

Thankfully, we were still here to keep answering the calls with questions and to offer advice and counsel to those experiencing hardships. The pandemic has created a challenge for our community; those calls were tough to hear. Hearing those stories

created a personal commitment for us to continue looking for solutions and organizations for our families to reach out to in this time of crisis.

While the finance staff was deemed essential, we were not here all day, every day. Many finance employees had kids to homeschool. Four of our finance staff have elementary-aged children and younger in their homes. While that age has been introduced to computers and can probably use a cell phone or tablet better than the parents, distance learning was a new experience.

We are still closed to the public for payments and will likely stay that way through June. We look forward to the day we can see our families. Until then, we pray everyone continues to stay safe!

Pensacola Habitat staff taking a picture with a homeowner who recently paid off her mortage--completely!

P.O. Box 13204 • Pensacola, FL 32591-3204 Main Office 850-434-5456 Pensacola ReStore 850-476-0001

linkedin.com/company/pensacola-habitat-for-humanity facebook.com/pensacolahabitat facebook.com/pensacolarestore @pcolahabitat issuu.com/pensacola-habitat

To request removal from the Pensacola Habitat for Humanity mailing list, email info@pensacolahabitat.org or call 850-434-5456

The Pensacola Habitat for Humanity ReStore is located in the Eastgate Plaza!

6931 N 9th Avenue, Suite 29 Pensacola, FL 32501

We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or sources of income.