St. Matthew Habitat for Humanity Ministry

Prologue:

   It is time once again to gear up for the St. Matthew Habitat for Humanity Project. Due to the extremely HOT temperatures during a fall build, the 6th St. Matthew sponsored Habitat house will be built in the spring of 2008. This is the first in a series of articles that will appear in the Sunday bulletin over the next several weeks. These articles are designed to help our parishioners better understand what Habitat for Humanity is all about, provide up-to-date facts, and guide our parishioners in supporting the project.

Chapter One:  What is Habitat for Humanity? 

   Habitat for Humanity is an ecumenical, Christian organization working in partnership with God’s people in need to build simple, decent, affordable, energy efficient homes without profit or interest. It was established in 1976 by Millard Fuller and is now an international organization dedicated to eliminating poverty housing. Habitat for Humanity International is headquartered in Americus, Georgia and has more than 1600 affiliates in the United States. San Antonio is the home of the first affiliate. Habitat homes are built in more than 100 countries.

   Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity volunteers have built more than 200,000 homes worldwide thus providing affordable and decent shelter for more than 1,000,000 individuals. By the end of December 2006, 493 of these homes had been built here in San Antonio. These homes are 2 – 4 bedroom houses located in various parts of our city. The fall of 2005 saw the beginning of Habitat’s largest community to date: the Palo Alto Community. Habitat of Humanity of San Antonio will build approximately 300 homes in Palo Alto over the next 5 years. St. Matthew sponsored its 5th Habitat house located at 3603 Aragon in the fall of 2006 and over 400 of our parishioners went out to help build the home for the Salinas family.

   The first and most important step in sponsoring any Habitat house is prayer. The bible verse that will guide our efforts again this year is from James 2:18, “I will show you my faith by what I do.” Please pray for success of our St. Matthew 2008 Habitat for Humanity Ministry. For more information, contact Susan McClure at 341-9623. God bless.  (To Be Continued Next Week) [Top]