All Posts By

Lindsey Rominger

Aug 21
0

Increased Independence Thanks to Habitat’s Repair Program

By | Repair | No Comments

Sarah Repair Homeowner Headshot

In May of 2018, our homeowner repair team connected with Sarah who was seeking assistance to repair and add additional safety features to her Westside Indianapolis home. Sarah worked closely with our team to not only repair her home, but also breathe new life into it, allowing her to pursue her goals of furthered independence.

“I was in need of a new roof, a ramp repair, and a second access out of my house, and a family friend, who is also disabled, was able to get a new roof through Habitat,” Sarah said. “Before the repairs were made, I had issues with animals getting in my roof due to its age. Also, my front ramp was deteriorating and I had no second access in and out of my house.”

With her curiosity peaked and a desire to improve the safety, accessibility, and living conditions in the home, Sarah reached out to Habitat. Through the combined efforts of Greater Indy Habitat and Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP), our homeowner repair team worked to secure her home with a new roof and make the home more wheelchair accessible.

During the course of the project, we built new front and back wheelchair ramps for Sarah as well as put in an automatic back door, allowing her to exit her home comfortably and safely. During the project, a brand new metal roof was also installed along with proper drainage around the exterior of the house, allowing Sarah to enjoy this home for years to come!Thanks to the generosity of Builders Lumber & Hardware who donated the materials for the ramps and the Shelbyville Community Church congregation who lending a helping hand, Sarah’s home is now safe and accessible.

“The staff was very kind and kept me informed throughout the entire process. I would recommend Greater Indy Habitat’s Homeowner Repair Program to someone else. They helped me find and get the resources needed for my new roof, ramps, and second access,” Sarah said.

A Repaired Home—Increased Independence

Before and After Sarah Repair 2019

What does being a homeowner mean to Sarah? “Independence and pride in myself,” Sarah shared. “I’m able to be me and be on my own timetable and not someone else’s.”

Not only have the completed home repairs allowed Sarah to enjoy increased levels of independence in her home, but the repairs have also given her a safe space to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a published author.

“With it only being me in the house most of the day with peace and quiet all around me, I was able to finish both of my novels at a quicker pace than if I were living in assisted-living or even an apartment,” Sarah said. “Knowing I won’t have any distractions from animals and having a second access and two new places outside to relax and brainstorm is wonderful… I will really enjoy being able to go outside in the summer using either one of my new ramps.”

Thanks to the committed work of the Greater Indy Homeowner Repair team and INHP, Sarah is settling into her repaired home—a home that she can now enter and exit with ease. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your journey of building strength, stability and independence, Sarah. We wish you all the best!

More about the Homeowner Repair Program
By participating in the Greater Indy Homeowner Repair Program, homeowners like Sarah are able to reclaim their homes with pride and dignity. Through the Homeowner Repair Program, the staff concentrates on exterior repair work, health and safety, and energy-efficiency repairs.

For more information about our repair program or to apply, visit indyhabitat.org/repair.

Aug 13
0

Volunteers Making an Impact in 2019: Q2

By | Volunteer | No Comments

Here at Greater Indy Habitat, we had a strong finish to our second quarter of 2019. In Q2 we built almost 400 wall panels for future homes and handed over the keys to five new homeowners who successfully completed their 300 hours of sweat equity, building their homes alongside volunteers. Thank you to each of our volunteers who make our mission possible, and a special thank you to those who came out in Q2 to build with us. Check out some of our Q2 volunteer impact stats below!

Volunteer Impact Graphic 2019 Q2

To join us in this important work of building strength, stability, and independence through homeownership, check out our volunteer page for ways to get involved. With questions, contact volunteer@indyhabitat.org.

May 22
0

Get Involved | Thrivent Faith Build 2019

By | Events | No Comments

In 1987, four couples from two Indy churches came together to begin what we know today as Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity. What started as one home in the late 80’s with just a handful of partners has grown to build with over 27 families in 2018 with well over 50 faith groups. With the help of Thrivent Financial, we have a special opportunity for your church to be a part of an Indy family’s journey to stability, self-reliance, and hope. Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity brings local churches and businesses together to raise roofs, walls, funds and prayers to build a house in partnership with a family in your community.

Thrivent Financial is Habitat for Humanity’s largest supporter world-wide and has decided to partner with Greater Indy Habitat and our local congregations through Thrivent Faith Build. Through this partnership, Thrivent is challenging Indy area congregations with an opportunity to put their faith into action. Thrivent is inviting your congregation to partner on this Thrivent Faith Build through prayer, volunteering, and by offering to match your financial contribution to this unifying initiative. Learn more by watching the video above.

For more information or to sign your church or small group up for a build day, contact Joel Reichenbach at 317.777.6070 or joel@indyhabitat.org.

May 16
0

Jim’s Desk: Meet the 2019 Women Build Co-Chairs

By | From the CEO | No Comments

Our sixth annual Women Build is underway as 29 teams are coming together to build homebuyer Daisy’s two-story home. Catch Women Build co-chairs Amber Dagit and Stacey Stuteville out on the build site as they meet up with our President & CEO Jim Morris for the latest episode of “From the Desk of Jim.” Learn more about what makes the Women Build different than other Habitat builds and how the Women Build is making a significant impact in our community.

For more information on how you can get involved with our Women Build, click here.

May 15
1

Volunteer Spotlight: Meet Tracy

By | Volunteer | No Comments

This May, our volunteer spotlight is on Tracy Ingersoll. Tracy, Women Builder and Homebuyer Mentor, shares her insight and experience as a volunteer for Greater Indy Habitat.

Tracy at Fundraiser

Tracy (Pictured Left) & Jamie at Women Build Fundraising Event

The Women Build program was established to encourage the involvement of women in the construction of Habitat homes. What advice would you give to women who might be apprehensive about volunteering on the build site because of a lack of construction experience?

It’s not as hard as it looks. Habitat staff and the Tigers will teach you everything you need to know. It’s a great first opportunity to get an inside look to Habitat. It’s great for team building and you always learn something.

Peer to peer fundraising among teams is the name of the game for the Women Build. Your team “The Naptown Rollers” has raised over $17,000 dollars, congratulations! This surpasses your 2019 team goal of $15,000 and the all-time highest fundraising amount of $11,400 from any team! What would you say has been your team’s most successful fundraising tactic?

Even though my sister (Jamie Gauker) and I are the team leaders, it is because of our whole team’s efforts that we’ve accomplished what we have so far. Our goal was to make sure our team members and those they were reaching knew the why behind the homebuyer’s story as well as the why of the Habitat mission. As people told us they were interested in joining our team, we made sure that people knew participation in the Women’s Build was twofold: fundraising and building. This is essentially a fundraising competition! My sister and I are really competitive so we encouraged our team to find out if their company did a dollar match – either for their time or dollars, to heavily use social media and to thank people. My team has done a phenomenal job and I’m thankful for them!

Women Build Kick-Off 2019

Tracy and the Naptown Rollers 2019 Women Build Team with homebuyer Daisy

If people are interested in leading or joining a team for the 2020 Women build, what advice would you give them?

Think bigger! People are willing to spend the money when it’s a good cause, so don’t be afraid to ask. JUST ASK! If you are leading a team, encourage a “price for admission” to be a part of a team. Set the bar high. Also, get fresh faces on your team. If you have the same people year after year, they might end up exhausting their network for fundraising.

You’re also a volunteer with our Habitat Mentor program! What has been the coolest part of this 1 on 1 volunteer experience so far?

I’ve learned a lot about the Habitat homeownership program and the big time commitment it takes for homebuyers to knock out 300 hours of sweat equity (while having kids and a job mind you!) and earn the keys. The homebuyer I’m mentoring doesn’t really need me. She’s sharp and is well on her way. I’m just here for when she does need someone. Even if it is just one piece of helpful advice she borrows from me, it makes this experience with her worth it. I’m making a friend and getting to be there for her as she becomes a homeowner for the first time. It’s great!

What is one word you would use to describe your volunteer experience with Greater Indy Habitat?

Fulfilling.

Thank you Tracy for everything you do to further the Habitat mission here in Greater Indy! To learn more about the Women Build and how you can join Tracy out on the build site, click here. Or, to join Tracy as a homebuyer mentor, click here.

May 10
0

Meet Marlene, Greenfield ReStore Manager

By | News, Staff | No Comments

This spring we welcomed Marlene Liu to our Habitat family into the role of Greenfield ReStore Manager. Learn more about Marlene below!

What are your primary roles at Habitat?
My primary role at Indy Habitat as the Greenfield ReStore Manager is being responsible for the overall operations of the retail store, actively supporting the HFH mission by building relationships in our communities with donors and customers, planning growth in sales revenue while minimizing operating costs, managing donations and pickups and merchandising new and gently used construction materials and household goods. I provide leadership and motivation to the store staff and volunteers as well as working collaboratively with the other ReStores both in our affiliate area and in surrounding counties.

What makes your space “home”?
Two things that help make my space home: original artwork and gardening. I am fortunate to have some very creative artist friends whose work I support and fill my walls and shelves with. Bringing my outdoor space into my home makes me happy! I have several flower and bulb gardens as well as raised vegetable and fruit beds so having cut flowers and bowls of fresh produce make my home smell great. One of the first things I did in Greenfield is to rescue some forlorn plants inside and we are cleaning up the front flower beds so our outside is inviting to our customers.

What’s your favorite tool to use?
I am always looking for my hammer and screwdrivers; mostly to hang up pictures or fix a piece of furniture. The screwdrivers can sometimes double as handy weed extractors!

Why do you build homes, communities and hope?
When I was 19, I went with friends of mine to their small home town in Jalisco, Mexico for a vacation between school semesters, but spent the whole time helping to build an elementary school and a teacher’s dormitory. A few months after I got home, I got an envelope full of letters and pictures from parents and students with notes of appreciation. Nine years later, I received a letter from one of the students who attended that school and was inviting me to his college graduation where he was getting his degree in industrial engineering. He told me that he and other classmates had been volunteering since they were 13 helping to build homes and schools near their home town. Knowing that I had a small part in helping to encourage others to assist in providing shelter has led me to volunteer with HFH builds where I lived. And now, working with the ReStores in educating our staff, volunteers, donors and customers as to how their donations and purchases support the vision and funding of building homes is the best way I can continue to provide hope in our communities.

Please join us in welcoming Marlene to our Habitat family! 

Apr 11
1

Breaking New Ground in 2019

By | News | One Comment

Habitat National Conference 2019Written by Shana Lewis, Volunteer Coordinator, Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity

As the Volunteer Coordinator here at Greater Indy Habitat, I got the privilege of experiencing my first Habitat National Conference a couple weeks ago. There was a lot to take in between the amazing sessions, meeting new people (there were over 2,000 board members and staff from affiliates across the country that attended), and navigating between the two conference hotels to make it to my sessions on time!

Greater Indy Habitat sent nine staff members from various departments to the conference this year. Jim Morris, President and CEO, presented “Managing the Distance: Success Serving Through Chapters and Outlying Areas” and Andy Duncan, ReStore Development Coordinator, presented “Daunting ReStore Donation? Converting Colossal Connections into Cash.” It was great gaining knowledge from all of the presenters during their sessions!Habitat National Conference 2019 Andy Presenting

The theme for this conference was Breaking New Ground. A significant focus of the conference was surrounding the fact that 1 in 6 households in the US pay more than 50% of their income on housing. For comparison, a reasonable, average amount of a household’s income recommended to be spent on housing is 30% or less. Breaking New Ground is centered around Habitat putting a renewed focus on advocating for affordable housing. Breaking new ground means using our collective voices to further Habitat for Humanity’s mission– to create a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

For Greater Indy Habitat, this means taking a step towards educating our volunteers supporters, and partners about the issues surrounding affordable housing. Habitat will continue to be a bipartisan organization focusing on housing, and this certainly does not mean we are jumping into politics. However, it does mean that we see an opportunity to be more vocal about policies that will affect our work to bring people together to build homes, communities and hope.

Greater Indy Habitat continues our focus on education in regards to issues surrounding affordable housing in our communities and neighborhoods. In 2017, The Sagamore Institute completed a 30-Year-Impact Study to analyze Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity’s impact over the last 30 years since our founding in 1987. The research study took a look at how Greater Indy Habitat homeownership has empowered families in achieving strength, stability, and independence. Under the direction of Dr. JoAnna Brown, the Sagamore Institute examined the connection between the ownership of decent and affordable housing and the families’ quality of life.The study revealed that 71% of homeowners started, completed, or plan to complete higher education or professional training since purchasing their Greater Indy Habitat home. This is just one way that Habitat homeownership has benefited our homebuyers. To read up on the study, you can visit https://indyhabitat.org/study/.

This past February, we partnered with the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic to host author Matthew Desmond to discuss the hidden housing crisis not only in the US, but right here in Indiana too. (Indianapolis is #2 in evictions in the nation, which is not a statistic to be proud of in our great city.) Matthew was joined by a panel of local experts to discuss the impact of evictions here in Indianapolis and how the community can come together to make a change.

If I had to say one thing that I took away from conference, it’s this: Habitat’s affiliates are truly experts in housing. We see the underlying issues in our work every day. We are in a position to use our collective voice to make a difference, not only for our homeowners but for current renters that may apply for our program as well. There are many ways that affiliates can advocate for affordable housing. It doesn’t have to be a daunting as it sounds for us to start acting.

If you want to be a part of the bigger picture with Greater Indy Habitat please sign up for our enews to stay up to date on the latest Habitat happenings, events, and more.

Apr 08
0

Volunteers Making an Impact in 2019: Q1

By | Volunteer | No Comments

We are officially a quarter of the way through 2019 and a lot of exciting things are in the works here at Greater Indy Habitat. We currently have 16 families working their way through our spring semester of homeownership class, accumulating their 300 hours of sweat equity in the classroom as well as out on the build sites. Thank you to each of our volunteers who make our mission possible, and a special thank you to those who braved the cold winter mornings of Q1 to build with us. In fact, we only had TWO build days in Q1 above 60 degrees! Check out more of our Quarter One volunteer impact stats below!

Volunteer Quarterly Impact Graphic 2019

To join us in this important work of building strength, stability, and independence through homeownership, check out our volunteer page for ways to get involved. With questions, contact volunteer@indyhabitat.org.

Sep 28
0

Meet Anna, Homeowner Support Coordinator

By | News | No Comments

In April we welcomed Anna Blackmon to our Habitat family into the role of Homeowner Support Coordinator. Learn more about Anna below!

What are your primary roles at Habitat?
I work on the Homeownership Team as the outreach coordinator. I am the future homeowner’s first point of contact by processing their application. I also work on partnering with other organizations in hopes of getting new homeowners.

What makes your space “home”?
Sitting around with my girls, either at the dinner table enjoying each other’s company or watching them play outside.

What’s your favorite tool to use?
I would say my hands because I use them to work on the computer, process files, and get our class information for our future homeowners.

Why do you build homes, communities and hope?
It’s rewarding to watch people grow in our program to become homeowners. Just working for Greater Indy Habitat has been a blessing in more ways than I can count… the different work that is done through the city and overseas.

Please join us in welcoming Anna to our Habitat family! 

Sep 14
0

Meet Chase, Construction Superintendent

By | News | No Comments

In June we welcomed Chase Yanzer to our Habitat family into the role of Construction Superintendent. Learn more about Chase below!

What are your primary roles at Habitat?
As a construction superintendent for Habitat for Humanity, my primary role is to lead our Tiger Team and our volunteers through the construction of our homeowner’s new homes. This includes coordinating deliveries, scheduling professional trades, and working to ensure the safety of all who are on the build site. With the help of the Tiger Team, I direct volunteers in what to do and how to do it in order to start off with a flat piece of ground and end up with a beautiful home.

What makes your space “home”?
I purchased my first home about three years ago and the ability to make changes to it has been my favorite part. I’ve done several things to it since purchasing it that have helped to make it feel like my home rather than just a place to put my things. Out of all the things I’ve done, the one that I probably enjoy the most is the fireplace surround and mantle that my dad and I made to house an electric fireplace. I enjoy coming home from work and sitting on the couch and firing up the fireplace and relaxing.

What’s your favorite tool to use?
My favorite tool to use on the build site is ‘the persuader’. Generally this term is reserved for the sledgehammer, but I prefer to use the term more generally to refer to any implement that is used to ‘persuade’ something into place. This could be a hammer, a 2×4, a crowbar, a clamp – most anything will do. We often use these tools to knock walls into place and are a real joy to use. When the ‘persuader’ comes out, the tension usually goes away…

Why do you build homes, communities and hope?
I work for Habitat for Humanity because I truly believe every Hoosier deserves to have quality affordable housing. Working every day to help make that a reality in my home State is a dream come true. Not only that, but getting to see the amazing dedication of the Tiger Team and the Volunteers who work unbelievably hard to build these homes is truly inspiring. I am fortunate to call Habitat for Humanity my employer.

Please join us in welcoming Chase to our Habitat family!