Habitat for Humanity House - 1999

The Habitat for Humanity home on Winburn Drive was dedicated on Sunday, October 24, 1999. The light of God's presence was clearly shining upon this new house, and the family that would live in it (Dorothy, Camese, and Marischal Whiting) - a light reflected in the beaming smiles on their faces, and on the faces of those who had shared in the building. Chris Reid presented the family with a souvenir hammer, Sam Pendergrast lead in singing "If I had a Hammer", and everyone enjoyed refreshments and a tour of the house.

In the summer of 1990, as part of the recovery effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo, a small group of volunteers from Second Presbyterian Church traveled to Charleston, South Carolina and for one week labored in the hot Charleston sun building a Habitat for Humanity Home.

The next year, 150 volunteers from this church worked on Hawkins Avenue in Lexington alongside volunteers from First Presbyterian Church as we co-sponsored and constructed for the Stewart Family a Habitat Home in a single week. From that point on, this congregation has come to understand one of Habitat's slogans, "The excitement is building."

The excitement is building and in the 1990's this congregation has built five homes since that first excursion to Charleston. Homes on Hawkins Avenue, Gerald Drive, Fifth Street, Newtown Pike and Bradley Court serve as tangible evidence of our commitment to putting our faith into action. These are basic but attractive and well built homes which are assets to the neighborhoods and the Lexington community. Our sponsorship of these homes has allowed Habitat for Humanity to offer decent housing at an affordable cost to homeowners in Lexington and throughout the world.

Second Presbyterian will close this decade by co-sponsoring their sixth Habitat home in Lexington. Construction will begin on Saturday, September 18. We will again team with First Presbyterian Church in funding and building the home. Volunteers from both churches will frame the house the first weekend and continue working into the next week (Phase 1). After the first week, our volunteers will take a break and over the next few weeks, skilled tradesmen such as plumbers and electricians will be on site (Phase 2). When they finish, we will return to complete and dedicate the house (Phase 3).

This is a departure from the "blitz" format of our previous houses which is necessitated by the current boom in residential construction and shortage of skilled tradesmen. Our commitment is to provide labor and funding for the construction. Our share of the funding is $17,500 which is needed before August 1. This money is used to do site work, purchase the land, lumber and materials and is needed well in advance of our September construction start. In 1996 Second Church raised their share of the funding in about three weeks, I would like to challenge us to a similar response this year.

I also encourage you to volunteer to work on the house when the opportunity comes. Put the weekend of September 18 on your calendar today. There will be opportunities for many talents, from preparing or serving a snack to shingling a roof. If you have participated in a previous Habitat Project you know the excitement and satisfaction. If you are new to Habitat, come and see what we mean when we say, "The excitement is building."