Carpenters for Christ/Habitat for Humanity - Highland Park United Methodist Church

Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17

For current information, Link to Our Webpage: www.hpumc-cfc.org

How to Become a Carpenters Sponsor
Each home undertaken by Carpenters for Christ requires from the Church a contribution of $55,000 cash upfront paid to Habitat. Currently Carpenters is building at the rate of 6 homes per year. In an ordinary year that comes to $330,000, very little of which is funded by the HPUMC budget (our regular pledges and offerings). That means that the Carpenters Committee and its friends have to raise the equivalent of $1,000,000 every three years to attain the goal of 100 completed homes by 2016. Donations come in all sizes and are greatly appreciated. Carpenters is fortunate to have received from Habitat a temporary discount, to $40,000 per house for the next 20 months. Persons giving now, at any level, will get more for their contribution than ever before.

How To Get Involved
Besides financial support there are other ways to serve the great HPUMC ministry that is Carpenters for Christ. Volunteering to help build the homes encompasses many functions that allow for the most inexperienced person to be a meaningful contributor to the process. Volunteers may serve for a full day or even a half day. A willing spirit and a set of old clothes are the only ingredients needed to make volunteering the sweetest experience.

For those who would like a less active experience there is the need for approximately 35 lunches for the volunteers each work day. These lunches may be homemade sandwiches or salads, served by a Sunday School class or other group, or it may rest with an individual wanting to provide store-bought sandwiches, chicken or pizza. The person to see about volunteering or providing lunches is Carpenters Volunteer Coordinator, Jane Parker. She can be reached at jhp01@aol.com.

History
With determination, purpose and encouragement by Senior Minister, Mark Craig, Carpenters for Christ formally organized in 1996 and set out on a plan to build 100 homes with Habitat for Humanity. Currently, the number of completed homes totals 46. True to its calling, the group still builds one home at a time with their only purpose to provide a simple, decent place to live for one family at a time.

Our mission has been blessed by the financial support of very generous individuals and organizations within HPUMC. Without this critical support, we could not continue to pursue our goal of sponsoring 100 Habitat homes for truly deserving families. We are also blessed by the friendships and camaraderie that we have developed with our partner families, volunteers from HPUMC, and other volunteers who have joined us at the work sites. It is safe to say that, at the end of each workday, the volunteers feel that we have been blessed much more by our experiences than we have given through our labor and financial contributions.

Rev. Mark Craig working on a Habitat for Humanity House.

All members and friends of Highland Park United Methodist Church are invited and encouraged to participate in this great outreach program for which the Church has become known nationwide. For your gift of service (no skills required) or financial support (no minimum required), please contact Joe B. Fortson at fortsonj@hpumc.org or 214-523-2297, Jane Parker at jhp01@aol.com or 214-522-0204 or Bill Reeves at breeve01@aol.com or 972-231-1740

For more information, please visit the Carpenters for Christ website www.hpumc-cfc.org.