Habitat for Humanity honors volunteers

Volunteers are the "heart-and-hammer" of Sisters Habitat for Humanity. To show how much they are appreciated, the Habitat board and staff honor their contributions with an annual volunteer appreciation barbecue. Late afternoon thundershowers last week forced this year's event from Village Green Park indoors to the fire station community hall.

Kevin Neary, board president, welcomed the volunteers and thanked them for their service in the Thrift Store, the ReStore, and on the job sites. He introduced the newest Habitat homeowner in the Timber Creek area, Jamie Audrain-Glen and her two sons, Joshua and Jake. Theirs is house number 49 in Sisters.

Audrain-Glen expressed her gratitude to all the people who helped make her dream of owning a home come true so "my children will be able to live, and go to school, and grow up in one place instead of having to make multiple moves as I did all my life." The boys were glad they could paint their room whatever colors they wanted and to finally have two bathrooms.

Sharlene Weed, Habitat's executive director, introduced the new members of the 1,000 Hours Club: Connie Young, Dana Cunningham, Sue Remmick, Sue Edgerton and Eula Curtis.

Shawn O'Hern, Habitat's construction manager, unveiled the new second plaque honoring 1,000-hour-club members with their names on it, now representing 88,000 hours.

Marie Clausen was introduced with her new title as volunteer and family services manager, and she introduced her new part-time office and communications assistant, Angela Lund.

Robin Tawney, ReStore manager, and Lenore Fitzgerald, Thrift Store manager, introduced their new full-time assistant managers, Gar Slenning and Sharyn Benson, and some of their key volunteers. They both expressed their gratitude to all the volunteers "for all the things that you do that make this all run smoothly and provide homes for so many deserving families."

With speeches out of the way, rock 'n' roll music blaring, the food line opened up to feed the hoards of hungry volunteers - burgers and sausages hot off the grill, salads from Melvin's Fir Street Market, all topped off with a chocolate gratitude cake.