Habitat for Humanity raises a wall - and spirits

Habitat for Humanity has hosted many a groundbreaking ceremony in building homes for people in the Sisters Country.

Sunday marked the organization's first wall raising to dedicate a new Sisters Habitat for Humanity home at Hammond Place on East Cascade Avenue, and to introduce the owners.

The new owners had the honor of having Julia Hammond as a special guest. Sharlene Weed, Executive Director for Sisters HFH, opened the ceremony.

"This subdivision is named Hammond Place, after Julia and her husband, Hort, who are the founders of Sisters Habitat. They just happen to be part of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, which we see as the birthplace of Sisters Habitat, so it is extra special to have both Pastor Ron (Gregg) and Julia

Hammond here," Weed said.

"We started the process for Habitat in 1989, but officially founded it in 1991," Hammond said. "What made it so successful is the caring and love of people in the community. Hort couldn't believe the outpouring of people who wanted to help and give back to the community."

Hort had been an engineer for Vechtel Corporation in Southern California. Julia was a junior high school counselor for 19 years, but she says her most important job was raising four children. Hort was 84 when he died in 2006. One year later Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity International, came to Sisters to dedicate Hammond Place. Two years later Fuller himself died at age 74.

Before his opening prayer, Pastor Gregg read words from a song from their morning service stressing the importance of home and family:

"Longing for shelter, many are homeless, longing for shelter, many are cold."

First-time homeowners Tammy and Pete Henninger were overwhelmed by the enormity of the gift they have received from Habitat and all the volunteers.

For Tammy and Pete Henninger, life-long renters, this is the first home they can say they truly own. They have already completed their sweat equity, the 500 hours of volunteer time Habitat Homes qualifiers must complete before being awarded their home.

"We have been working on our sweat equity for 1-1/2 years. We moved here six years ago. We used to visit family here and fell in love with Sisters and didn't want to leave," the Henningers said.

"I am thankful to be in a neighborhood like this with all the Habitat houses. It has been a great experience, and we thank the kids for coming out," Tammy Henninger said.

It's the second house for construction manager Alex Weiss, who started working for Habitat in June 2009, organizing work crews and volunteers. Weiss said Habitat has a steady core group of volunteers.

"The houses are each 960 square feet on either side of a double garage and each have two bedrooms, one bath," he said of the Hammond Place homes. "They are trying to obtain Energy Star certification, which applies to windows and appliances. The difference between this and industry is that Habitat is a non-profit and uses volunteers. Habitat's in a really good place in terms of positioning in the industry, because it's all about building and making small footprint, energy efficient, relatively inexpensive homes."

Seven student volunteers, from University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, are part of this week's Collegiate Challenge.

Student Ryan Holton said, "I wanted to spend my spring break doing something productive and doing something meaningful."

"We had three spring break possibilities," Anna Resman commented, "and we all picked Oregon because of the beautiful scenery."

Next week, two Sisters youth groups will help build. The following week, students from Northern Idaho College will spend their spring break working on the project.

Habitat is seeking applicants for their homes. Their Web site, http://www.sistershabitat.org, contains a homeowner's qualification checklist. The site can also be used to make donations directly to the Sisters Chapter of Habitat for Humanity.