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During National Home Ownership Month, (June) Sussex County Habitat dedicated five new homes: one in Ellendale, two in Seaford, and two in Laurel. This is a first in the history of the affiliate. Our goals for fiscal year 2017, which begins July 1st, include building and repairing even more homes than ever before.
Each of the new homeowners were presented with a symbolic gold key, a homeowner's prayer, and a bible during their dedication ceremony. It is a Habitat tradition to do so to mark the moment when the home is blessed and to celebrate the homeowner's accomplishment.
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Bagwell Family
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A large group of friends and family members came to help bless the Bagwell's new Seaford home.
Lolita Bagwell shed tears as she shared some of the hardships she had gone through leading up to this moment. Before being accepted to Habitat, "I wasn't sure how I was going to make it," she said. She thanked her family, friends, Habitat, and everyone who took part in the project.
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Estime Family
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Gubons and Magda Estime were all smiles at their new home dedication in Seaford. Gubons prepared a heartfelt speech in wh
ich he thanked God, all the volunteers, his family and friends, and Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. "Moving into a new home will mean everything to us," he said. "We are looking forward to the many opportunities that are coming our way."
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Kevin with Marlin and her daughter
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The Herrera family's home was dedicated in Ingram Village in Ellendale. The ceremony was conducted in both Spanish and English with the help of Kevin Gilmore and Margaret Reyes.
Marlin Herrera and her children showed their appreciation by inviting everyone in for refreshments.
Marlin served a traditional tres leches
(three milks) cake, a sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated, condensed, and heavy cream. The distinct texture keeps it from having a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk. It is then iced with a very light frosting, in this case with a hint of lemon. So yummy!
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Terrez Dorman was joined by her mother, her younger brother, and her five children for her dedication ceremony in Laurel. Terrez thanked her family and everyone else who supported her in this opportunity, especially
Miss Margaret and
Miss Heather of
Family Services.
Some members from the
Lewinsville Presbyterian Church group were kind enough to take a break from volunteering to join us for the ceremony, and
Evan, a choir teacher who happened to be volunteering with the group, led us in a special song during the blessing of the house.
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Nancy with the Walters Family
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Shyde' Walters, her children were pleased to see the Lewinsville group join us for their dedication even after spending the morning working on their house! A beautiful flower pot arrangement was kindly donated by
Gardeners by the Sea of Ocean View.
Shyde' said her daughter was very excited to attend kindergarten at the school down the street and has been eyeing up the playground there. She plans to decorate her room in "Disney Princess" pink. They are looking forward to growing together as a family in their new home.
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| Women Build Clinics Rescheduled |
 Lowe's rescheduled the FREE Women Build Clinics for Saturday, July 16th at 9 am at the Sussex County Habitat ReStore. We apologize for any inconvenience.
To sign up to learn
How to Prep for Painting or
How to Repair a Toilet, please register below.
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Catholic Heart Camp
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Ten volunteers from
Catholic Heart Work Camp
spent several days putting the finishing touches on two Seaford homes. They worked in preparation for dedication ceremonies, and their hard work paid off - the houses look beautiful for the new owners.
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Ameriprise Financial
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Volunteers from
Ameriprise Financial including organizers;
Dave Baker,
Joe Baker, and
Sandra Baker gave a day of service as we finish up a build site in Laurel. Dave is both a former Sussex County Administrator and a past member of the SCHFH Advisory Committee. The group pressure washed and built and installed screens to prepare the home for dedication and settlement.
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Lewinsville Presbyterian Church - Opening Circle
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A group of 30 enthusiastic volunteers from Lewinsville Presbyterian Church in McLean, VA spent the week building as part of their summer mission trip. They wrapped and sided houses and built three sheds in Ingram Village in Ellendale.
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Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
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Fifteen energetic young volunteers joined us from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Laurel, MD. They worked for two days in Laurel, DE on a variety of touch-ups including painting, fixes, and landscaping. The home they worked on was dedicated for a family of six in late June and will be settled soon. |
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Barbara Ward, Volunteer Programs Coordinator
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Meet our new
Volunteer Programs Coordinator,
Barbara Ward! Barbara recently relocated to Lewes from her native Long Island where she spent the last 18 years recruiting students and families for a private Lutheran middle and high school. She is eager to apply those skills to expanding the SCHFH volunteer corps and developing leadership teams to benefit the construction, repair, and ReStore programs.
"Serving the best interests of families is a personal ministry that's always been close to my heart," Barbara says. "I am excited to be part of another faith-centered and mission-driven organization that gives me the opportunity to make a difference in my new community."
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Bruce C. Hefke
1950 - 2016
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It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Former Board President and dedicated volunteer, Bruce Hefke. Bruce passed away on Friday, June 17th at the age of 65,
following a year-long battle with cancer.
"Bruce had an instinctive reverence for his fellow human beings - especially the common man - and was always quick with a helping hand. He disdained arrogance and abuse of power. One of his proudest achievements was helping to found, organize, and lead Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. As president for three years in its formative days, he took great pleasure in watching people join their sweat equity with the love and help of others to build themselves a new home for their families."
Services for Bruce will take place at 3 p.m., Friday, July 8, at Parsell Funeral Home and Crematorium, Kings Highway, in Lewes. Visitation will begin at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, a memorial donation may be made to Sussex County Habitat for Humanity.
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Roxanne Nelson
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Roxanne Nelson works quietly
quietly behind-the-scenes to share her love of reading with Sussex County Habitat's partner families. Through her organiza- tion,
Reading Opens Doors
, she voluntarily provides partner families with a small home library personalized for the children according to their age,
developmental needs, linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Roxanne selects the books with the help of
Browesabout Books manager, Susan Kehoe.
"Browseabout has been very kind to support me in what I do," she said. "I'm very fortunate to have the support of the community." Other contributors who donate or hold book drives include the Rehoboth Beach Sunrise Rotary Club, the Village Improvement Association, and local churches and book clubs.
Since 2007 Roxanne has delivered books to 84 families, including 212 children. If you would like to help Roxanne and Susan empower even more children through reading, please send donations clearly marked for
Reading Opens Doors to:
Sussex County Habitat for Humanity
206 Academy Road
Georgetown, DE 19947
Attn: Reading Opens Doors
If you have questions contact Roxanne at 302-227-0205.
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Members of our Repair Team worked as part of Sussex Housing Group to paint two rooms in the new home of a community member, Ms. Betty, whose home was recently damaged beyond repair by a fire. The team included Repair Program Coordinator
Rachel Freeman
and Intern Alec Pikus
from Sussex County Habitat, as well as
Brad Whaley, Brandy Nuaman, and Guillermo Vasquez from the Community Development and Housing Department of Sussex County.
The Sussex Housing Group
(SHG),
a committee of
Delaware Housing Coalition,
is completing a year long focus community pilot project in partnership with the
Pinetown Civic Association
to bring increased resources and other improvements to the community. In the fall,
Sussex Housing Group will announce a Request For Proposals (RFP) to identify another community to partner with through Focus Community concept.
Kevin Gilmore, executive director of Sussex County Habitat
and co-chair of the SHG
, emphasized the importance of gathering feedback from residents before the group selects a new
Focus Community.
"It's one thing for the members of the SHG to say what we liked, but it's more important to hear from the residents." Gilmore said.
If you are a homeowner in Sussex County and would like
to see if you qualify for our major or minor repairs program, please
call the Repair Team at
302-855-1153 x214
or visit.
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| Do you have usable items for donation to our ReStore? Do you have questions about what we accept or need a larger item picked up? If so, please call our donation line at 302-855-1156 x 200 or e-mail [email protected]. |
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Gail Devers is a Three-time Olympic Champion Representing the USA in Track and Field in 1992 in Barcelona and
in 1996 in Atlanta
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SCHFH is a Proud Member of the AmeriCorps National Service Network
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