Habitat MidOhio Monthly Musing
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CEO Corner
Last week, our Senior Leadership Team embarked on a strategy conversation with the goal of creating a framework to guide our next five years. Modeling after great business thinkers and writers such as Jim Collins and Theodore Levitt, we started the day by asking ourselves, “What business are we in?” This question, when asked repeatedly, helps teams, volunteers, and leaders reconnect with the core purpose or soul of an organization. As I listened to the conversation, which was rooted in passion and commitment, here’s what I heard:
Habitat for Humanity-MidOhio is in the business of connecting people to opportunity and hope through obtaining and maintaining affordable housing.
Bottom line, we are in the opportunity and hope business. But we don’t do it by ourselves or because of ourselves. We don’t directly or single-handedly provide opportunity and hope as an organization. What we do is connect people to opportunities that give hope and space to dream.
This work of connection requires you; you as a donor, partner, volunteer or customer. If you are connecting with Habitat—thereby making connections of hope and opportunity possible—I encourage you to invite someone else to join you. Share your Habitat story (and tag us on social media!). If you haven’t connected in a while, I encourage you to join us:
- Consider volunteering as an individual, family, or team. You can learn more about the many opportunities here.
- Shop or donate at one of our three ReStores. You can see a great example of our ReStore merchandise in action in a recent Columbus Dispatch article, here.
- Make a monetary investment; no gift is too big or small. You can make a tax-deductible contribution here.
No matter how you connect with Habitat, you are working to connect your neighbors to opportunity and hope through affordable housing, which is more important than ever before.
Brandi Braun AL-Issa
President & CEO
Homeowner Services
Dedication of Muali Family Home, July 9
Congratulations to new homeowners, The Muali Family, on the completion of your new home! We had a great time celebrating with friends and family and enjoying the delicious food they brought to share! Thank you to D.R. Horton and City of Columbus for your support of this home and the Habitat MidOhio mission!
Dedication of Brown Family Home, July 18
We are thankful for sponsors Subtext and the City of Columbus for sponsoring the Brown family home! We celebrated at the home dedication ceremony where the family received their keys to their new home! Thank you to all of the volunteers that made this build successful!
Construction
A BIG thank-you to Kerouac
The construction department would like to give a huge thanks to Kerouac Smith as he completes the last couple of weeks serving here at Habitat MidOhio as an AmeriCorps Construction Crew Lead! We appreciate all of the hard work and incredible service that he has put forth over the past year. Know that all of the many families that your leadership and individual labor has made an impact on their lives.
Kerouac has an extensive background in media as a producer and editor with multiple large media outlets over the past 25+ years. He came across the AmeriCorps program at our affiliate at a time when he was in between jobs and eager to explore some vastly different activities. From the time he started, he displayed a strong desire to learn and ability to pick up skills quickly. He jumped right in and has been a valuable asset on many of our new build and repair sites. His family members have shared with us how impressed they are that he utilizes his new-found carpentry skills around his house in completing projects and repairs!
Our Construction Logistics Manager, Jason Hackworth, has expressed how helpful Kerouac is in assisting and completing many construction support activities that are just as important often as the actual construction on site activities. Kerouac has been a true team player!
Kerouac plans to take some time to do a plethora of projects around their home in the coming weeks and also plans to enroll in classes in the future, utilizing his AmeriCorps education award, to get a digital media production certification.
We hope that the skills you have learned, the things you have constructed, and the relationships built will bring you fond memories Kerouac! Thank you again for all of the wonderful service to the community.
ReStore
2024 Flower Sale Success!
The 2024 event proved to be our most successful sale yet as we sold over 5,000 flowers and plants, generating over $35,000 in total revenue! Our strategy of including all three locations and adding additional nurseries really paid off and we are excited to build on this awesome event in the future. Our success is never an individual effort, rather the combined effort of our Affiliate’s staff and dedicated volunteers. We are extremely grateful for the hours all of our volunteers committed to the event. A special THANK YOU to our corporate partners: AmericanHort; Lettuce Works; Foertmeyer & Sons Greenhouse; and Strader’s Garden Center.
ReStore Newark now carries brand-new Spyder jackets and fleece outerwear. It’s never too early to stock up for winter! Swing by our Newark location to check out the new category, all styles are 50% off of the original price!
Special Project
Our ReStore network has undertaken a large project, where we are working to sell off a large amount of brand-new store fixturing and building material. A prominent retailer went out of business prior to remodeling their stores and the inventory was turned over to our ReStores. Our goal is to generate revenue for our mission by selling all of the inventory as quickly as possible. Not only will it benefit our mission, it will save hundreds of thousands of tons from going to the local landfills. If you have a small business or know someone who needs store fixturing, please contact Josh Cobbs at jcobbs@habitatmidohio.org for more details.
Volunteer Services
Volunteer Spotlight
Each month, we spotlight 2 volunteers who have gone above and beyond to support Habitat’s mission. Check out our website to view all of our recently spotlighted volunteers, including Diane Vaughn and Mike Tanner for the month of July!
AmeriCorps
Join our AmeriCorps team for 2024-2025! Opportunities include multiple Construction Crew Leads and a part-time Construction Logistics position.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
August is National Black Business Month and Black Philanthropy Month!
The history of Black entrepreneurship can be traced back to the late 1700s — when free and enslaved Black people opened small businesses like barbershops and tobacco outlets, National Business Today reports. It stated the number of Black-owned firms rose with emancipation and then, despite the times, grew during the early 20th century.
“From 1900 to 1930, the period was known as the ‘golden age’ for Black-owned businesses. Segregation helped nurture Black-owned districts, including Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
To learn more click here!
Habitat MidOhio celebrates with our partner families who have started their own businesses since becoming homeowners!
Check out the links below to find a full list of central Ohio Black business that you can support!
Black Philanthropy Month (BPM), today a program of The Women Invested to Save Earth Fund (WISE), culminating in a multinational summit every August, is a global celebration and concerted campaign to elevate African-descent giving and funding equity. Incubated starting in 2001 by its Founder Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland, with the support of Reunity, formerly the Pan-African Women's Philanthropy Network, BPM launched in 2011 with its first official global summit to commemorate the United Nations Year and Decade of People of African Descent. BPM is now the world's only global Diasporan community coalition and movement to celebrate and empower Black funding in all its forms, from philanthropy to venture and business investment.
Resource Development
National Make a Will Month
Did you know August is National Make A Will Month? It's the perfect reminder to write or update your will so that your final wishes are honored. Learn more about Habitat MidOhio's Planned Giving and how you can help central Ohio families achieve the dream of homeownership for years to come. https://www.habitatmidohio.org/get-involved/donate/planned-giving.html
KeyBank Wall Build
Special thank you to our long-standing partners at KeyBank who sponsored a Wall Build as part of their annual Neighbors Make a Difference Day. Volunteers gathered at our warehouse to build the walls for a new central Ohio home! Habitat MidOhio is proud to partner with KeyBank and grateful for the essential funding and volunteer support they provide. Click to watch a video about their impact.
Meet the Team
Please join us in welcoming Joyce as an official employee of HFHMO! Joyce started with us through AmeriCorps and recently finished her year of service. She now joins HFHMO as our Project Lead Apprentice. We are happy to have her on the team!
Joyce stated that she is excited to be back with us for the fun and great experience in building houses for our families. Joyce’s goals is ensure she does her job well and to meet all expectations and more! Outside of work, Joyce enjoys reading, cooking and sewing. She also enjoys volunteering within the community! Fun Fact: Joyce can write backwards!
Let's welcome Anthony to the team! He will be working in our Westerville ReStore. We are happy to have him on the team!
Anthony wants to work at Habitat because he want to support his community in a different way. Its also part of his bigger goal to get back into the workforce after having a serious and unfortunate accident. Anthony states that he is most excited about the opportunity to ‘Pay it Forward”. In his words, that's better than a paycheck! Anthony’s goal is to be the best employee he can be even though he is working part time with us. He awaits the opportunity to grow in a unique way! Outside of work, Anthony enjoys his family time. He also enjoys podcasting and building TRAXXAS and R/C Trucks. Fun Fact: He knows how to make people laugh!
We are also excited to welcome Delton to HFHMO. He will be working in our Westerville ReStore.
Delton applied to Habitat because he truly wants to help people. This is also what he is most excited about. Delton’s goal while working for Habitat is to grow and help families find a home! Outside of working, Delton enjoys operating heavy equipment and photography. He also enjoys time with his four amazing kids. While in the community, Delton is involved in playing soccer and working with the MidOhio Food Bank. He is also involved with helping folks who is in sober living. Awesome!
