Rochester Area Habitat for Humanity is one of the charities which we support.

In 2006, Rochester Lutheran Churches will partner with Habitat for Humanity to completely build two homes in our community. Each Lutheran church in Rochester has been assigned three work days to staff. Work days for Good Shepherd include: May 20, July 22 and September 23. Help is also needed on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s prior to these dates. The “carpenters club” is a group of retired volunteers who give of their time weekly. If you prefer to work on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s with this group, please consider these dates. Good Shepherd will need 8 people for each work day. Lunch is provided on Saturday. All tools and equipment are provided. Workdays are from 9am-4pm, and workers must be age 16. The homes also need people to supervise a portion of the project – roofing, framing, insulating, painting, etc. If you have a particular area of skill that you could shared with others, please consider this short term volunteer role. Sign-up sheets will be available in the Narthex, so please consider this amazing experience in your summer plans! Please call Becky Fluegel at 244-0404 with questions or concerns.

Our partnering families are chosen based upon need, ability to pay and a willingness to partner with Habitat. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, sex or national origin. This partnering includes 250 hours of sweat equity by each adult in the process of building their own home. These homes are then sold to the partner families at no profit and with no interest on the mortgage. The future mortgage payments then become an important part of our ability to build more homes. Families are chosen based on the greatest need and the ability to repay the loan.

Since RAHH began in 1990, we have housed 40 economically challenged families with over 130 children. In the process, we have built understanding and lasting relationships between our volunteers and homeowners that nurture the Rochester community. Our goal is to increase our home production by 20% each year until we eliminate poverty housing from our community. Gifts such as yours make this possible.

GSC continues to collect aluminum cans for Habitat. Thanks to Roger Garnatz for doing this.

GSC member Trent Fluegel is a previous executive director of Habitat for Humanity.