Pikes Peak Habitat Monthly e-News
April 2024
Pikes Peak Habitat Honors Volunteers at Annual Event
Pikes Peak Habitat held our annual Volunteer Appreciation event on Thursday, April 18, at The Pinery on the Hill. We welcomed more than 150 key volunteers and their guests for dinner, conversation, and recognition of the crucial role they play in helping us fulfill our mission. Once again, GE Johnson sponsored the event, and we thank them for their support!
We recognized winners of our annual volunteer awards:
Millard Fuller Award: Maggie Dover
Construction Group of the Year: Colorado Springs Utilities
ReStore Northeast Group of the Year: North Colorado Springs Rotary Club
ReStore South Group of the Year: Foundation for Successful Living
Journeyman Award: Mike Gallagher
This year, we also had the honor of presenting the fourth George Hammond Award to Art and Laurel Thorstensen! Congratulations, and thank you both for your years of dedicated service!
- Linda Fuller Award: Connie Dorff (not pictured)
- Chris Brownlow Golden Hammer Award: Bobby Ingels (not pictured)
Pikes Peak Habitat Interfaith Program Earns International Honor
Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity's 2024 UN World Interfaith Harmony Week initiative has won second place in the HM King Abdullah II UN World Interfaith Harmony Week prize competition.
UN World Interfaith Harmony Week takes place every year from Feb. 1-7. In celebration of this initiative, our 2024 dialogue, “Who Is Your Neighbor?,” took place on the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus Feb. 4.
The event, which was free and open to the public, featured a panel of representatives from several faith traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Yarsani. After the panel, Steve Posey, Colorado Springs chief housing officer at the time, shared remarks about the city’s vision and goals for affordable housing. Finally, attendees had the chance to participate in facilitated interfaith discussions at their tables.
In addition, Pikes Peak Habitat developed seven daily activities designed to promote awareness of interfaith work, the need for affordable housing in our community, and the concept of neighborliness across various faith traditions.
Ground Blessing and Home Dedication Celebrate Homeowners
Isxel's family
Tonya's family
Maria's family
On Saturday, April 27, Pikes Peak Habitat is celebrating homeownership milestones with three families at The Ridge at Sand Creek, 5303 Beauport Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80915 -- and you're welcome to join us!
First, at 9:30 a.m., we'll hold a ground blessing for Isxel's family and Tonya's family.
Isxel's three-bedroom home will be built as the 4th Interfaith Build for Unity (IBU). “I feel really like God loves me. And you are like angels for me!” says Isxel, who works as a paraprofessional in special education. “It’s really a blessing. This opportunity is really, really good for people that need it. I feel blessed and grateful, so positive. It’s something really good for me and my children!"
Tonya's family are beginning the journey of helping build their two-story, five-bedroom home. "I’m not in fear of my children growing up here," says Tonya, who is originally from Baltimore. "I don’t feel like if my son goes to the store, he won’t make it home, or if my girls go somewhere they won’t make it home.” She, her four children, and her grandson will all share the home.
Then we'll rejoice with Maria's family as we dedicate their home at 10:30 a.m. Maria is a single mother of teenage twins. Although she works full-time with plants -- one of her passions -- she struggles to make ends meet, and the family has been living in Section 8 housing. Maria is excited that when they move into their three-bedroom Pikes Peak Habitat home, her children will each have their own room.
Both Tonya's and Maria's homes are being built through the Fund for Humanity.
Participate in Our Earth Day Donation Drive
Join us as we attempt to drive record numbers of donations to our ReStores between now and Earth Day, April 22! For the third year in a row, we are partnering with Keysight Technologies to save materials from landfills. New and gently used building materials, furniture, appliances, and other home-improvement items are sold in the ReStores for a fraction of the retail cost, and the stores also serve as drop-off centers for metal, paint, porcelain, and textile recycling. Net proceeds from ReStore sales help fund Pikes Peak Habitat's partnership with El Paso County workforce families through our homeownership and home repair programs. You can schedule a donation pick-up online or drop your items off at either of our ReStore locations from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday:
- ReStore Northeast, 6250 Tutt Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80923
- ReStore South, 411 S. Wahsatch Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Info Sessions Provide Assistance with Homeownership Program Applications
Pikes Peak Habitat will be accepting applications for our homeownership program from May 6-17, and we're holding information sessions ahead of those dates for anyone interested in applying! If you or someone you know is in need of an affordable homeownership opportunity in El Paso County, please join us for either of these events!
Wednesday, April 24, at 3:30 p.m., Library 21c: Venue at Library 21c, 1175 Chapel Hills Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80920
Thursday, May 2, at 4:30 p.m., East Community Meeting Room at East Library, 5550 N. Union Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Participate in Our First Post up for Veterans Fundraiser!
If you want to support Pikes Peak Habitat's Veterans Build, we're offering a fun new way you can do that: our Post up for Veterans fundraiser! Sponsor a stud or block and create a message of hope, encouragement, or inspiration for Army veteran family Damian and Trinady.
Make a donation of $35 per block or $50 per stud. After completing your purchase, you will receive an e-mail with details on picking up your wood at one of our ReStore locations (Northeast at 6250 Tutt Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80923, or South at 411 S. Wahsatch Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903).
Then let your creativity shine! Decorate the wood with a heartfelt message from your family, your company logo, or some artwork. Please return the completed piece to one our ReStore locations by Saturday, June 1.
Finally, join us for an Open House on our construction site, 5303 Beauport Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80915, on Saturday, July 13, from 12 - 2 p.m. to see where your stud or block ends up in the framework of the home!
Questions? Contact Emma Price, Assistant Donor Relations Manager, at 719-475-7800 ext. 113 or e-mail Emma@PikesPeakHabitat.org.
Attend a Free Homebuying Workshop
Are you looking to purchase a home in the next couple of years but don’t know where to begin?
Join Thrivent and Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity for the Balanced Homebuying Workshop on Tuesday, May 14, 5:30 - 7 p.m., at Peak City Church, 1710 Dublin Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80918.
During this free community event, attendees will learn about the state of housing in El Paso County and gain insights about the housing market. Additionally, attendees will learn about a five-step SMART plan to prepare for homeownership. This training will cover topics including creating a budget, tips to improve your credit score, potential questions to ask lenders, and more.
Heavy hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be provided.
Join Us for an Interfaith Training Night
This year, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity was selected to participate in Team Up, a White House initiative focused on bridgebuilding. Founding partner organizations are Catholic Charities USA, Habitat for Humanity International, Interfaith America, and YMCA of the USA.
As Pikes Peak Habitat's contribution to the project, we've created an eight-part interfaith video training series and supplemental guide. This flexible, free curriculum can be useful to faith communities, companies, government liaisons, organizations, and individuals who are interested in learning how to become local interfaith bridgebuilders, better serve clientele from diverse beliefs, and start and/or expand efforts to build bridges across lines of difference.
On Thursday, April 25, 2024, you're invited to join Pikes Peak Habitat from 5:15 - 6:45 p.m. in room 211 at Grace & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (601 N. Tejon St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903) for a special info night to learn about how your faith community or organization might use this free community resource. Attendees will get the chance to review these materials and watch a sneak peek of one of the videos. In addition, IBU subcommittee members representing different faiths will articulate why this training series is helpful to members of their faith community and how they work with others from diverse beliefs while maintaining their own personal faith tradition and convictions.
Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing Chloe@PikesPeakHabitat.org.
Join Our Team!
Do you want a rewarding career working in partnership with local workforce families? Do you yearn to know that what you do every day makes a tangible difference in El Paso County? Do you value environmentally responsible practices, from low-water landscaping to innovative recycling programs through our ReStores? Do you want to work with a team of kind, dedicated, passionate people who share those values?
If the answer is YES, then apply today! We're currently looking for people for these positions:
Read with Us!
This month, in honor of Earth Day, we're reading Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe.
Hayhoe serves as chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and is the Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law and Paul W. Horn Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University. She has been named a United Nations Champion of the Earth, the World Evangelical Alliance's climate ambassador, and one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People.
Hayhoe also is an evangelical Christian whose faith calls her to care for the people who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Similarly, at Pikes Peak Habitat, we take seriously our dual responsibilities to care for other people and to steward our natural resources.
