Just over a year ago longtime Habitat supporters Rick and Debbie Zajicek, with Nils Pedersen and Joyce Francis, challenged the community to match their $35,000 donation. Over 200 supporters stepped forward to meet and surpass the goal, raising enough money to sponsor a home for Deb! Deb worked over 1000 hours to build her home and other Habitat homes – over triple the required sweat-equity for Habitat partners! Deb shared her home with friends, family, and Habitat supporters and volunteers on June 22nd. Her comments and a list of supporters who made this home possible are below.

The journey of a thousand miles may begin with one step, but the journey of a house starts with nails. And not a single nail, but thousands of nails. From Tom I learned to be smarter than the nail. Ben taught me that a bent nail sometimes gets the job done better than a straight nail. From Russ I learned that nothing drives a nail like a titanium hammer. And where would we be without Mary and her super-magnet, capturing the nails that miss their mark?!

This is an amazing thing, what Habitat for Humanity does. You take people like me who know only from the drywall out and we build houses from the ground up. We become partners, a most powerful concept and word. We nail and measure and saw and caulk and paint. Level, plumb, and square. My house and I have in common that we wear tyvek … who knew?!? Studs and kings, bird’s mouths, ledgers, sheathing, rafter tails. Pennies measure galvies and sinkers. Trusses fly. I love my speed square, which is actually a triangle.

Joseph, you taught me how to apply the plans that determine where all those boards and nails go, mark the chalk lines on the concrete where the walls will rise, and that everything starts where the framimg starts. Tiana, from you I am learning to envision those plans, to see the constructs and details, to figure out how to do things. Ken, my time with you has been brief but I have high expectations (which is code for answers to endless questions!) as I continue to work as a volunteer with the construction team. In these past 15 months I’ve met so many wonderful people who give of their time and knowledge and skills to make the dream of home a reality for Habitat partners.

This has been a most remarkable journey, and now I am home … possible only because of Habitat. My deepest gratitude especially to Barbara, my first connection with, and the face of, Habitat. To Melanie, my shepherd and front line through this process. To Natalie, who keeps the all the moving parts moving … feeble words for such a monumental task. To Tessie, who finds and manages the scores of people who come to build … and bring treats. To Rachel, who we seldom see but runs the numbers that make this all happen. And to Jamie, an incomparable leader with a depth and breadth of knowledge, experience, and insight who is always there, eye on the radar. Thanks, too, to Kathey and Chris, my liaisons on the Homeowner Services Committee, and to the wonderful community of Port Townsend that makes all this possible. You are all so amazing!

One last word of thanks to someone who is not able to be here today though is the one who started me on this journey, my good friend Peggy Ann who said to me one afternoon, “Deb, you ought to look into Habitat. Maybe that would be something for you.”

Thank you all, so much. As Dorothy said in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, “There is no place like home.” Welcome to mine!

Community House Sponsors

Elizabeth Andrews and Karen Sturnick

David and Jean Andrianoff

Jane Armstrong

Marta Asmussen

Ann Bambrick

Ben and Erica Bauermeister

Cathy Beatty

Patti Biazzo and Thomas Biazzo

Norma Bishop

Cynthia Blacketor

Ruth Blyther

David and Diane Bommer

Melvin Bostich

Jennifer Brinch

Patricia Burns

Carol Cahill

Jean and Thomas Camfield

Mary Carr and Chuck Gibilisco

Judith Caruso

David Cervantes and Juana Garcia Hernandez

Richard and Patricia Ann Chambers

John and Karen Chrisman

Bob and Helen Cleveland

John Collins and Carol Graves

John Conley

Bonnie Corra

Cathy Cowan

Katie Cox

Sharon Cunningham

Edward and Sara Davis

Corine De Boer

Roger and Diane Delmar

Erica Dirksen

Chris and Carolyn Eagan

Stephen and Ann G Eastwood

David and Geri Eekhoff

John and Carhy Effmann

Bill and Elaine Eppick

Dianne and Jim Espenson

Bill and Joan Ewbank

John and Donna Fabian

James Feit

John Floyd

Frangipani Corporation

Westland Construction

Dave and Jan Garing

Richard and Suzanne Friedericks

Robert and Pamela Garlett

Margo and Ron Garton

Alan and Lilianne Glast

Richard and Jody Glaubman

Thomas and Katherine Walker

Sarah Grossman and Jennifer Carl

Louise Hadlock

Deborah Hammond

Arlene Hansen

Rev. Gail and Capt Marc A Helgeson

Kristi Helmecke

Le and Willean Hornbeck

Gwen Howard

Carolyn Hunt

Carol Hurley

Emily Caryl Ingram

Insurance Services Group

Claus and Teresa Janssen

Virginia Johnson, DVM

Nickey Jones

Gretchen Kaiser

Jim and Maudie Kerns

Fred and Janie Kimball

Natalie Lagergren

Ellen Larkin

Barry and Ellen Lerich

Lee Ann Lewis

Chelcie and Katherine Liu

Cyril and Vicki Lucas

Milton and Doris Lum

Marge Luther

Eugenia Lyle

Jamie and George Maciejewski

Jim and Karen Manier

Robert and Susan Marett

Jim and Noreen McCarron

McCrorie Carpet One

David and Julie McCulloch

Larry McKeehan and Peter Mercer

Cherilyn McLaughlin

Dian Campbell & Jeff McLean

Paul McShane

Charles and Barbara Merry

Nancy Mills

Robert Molise

Dean Morgan and Adele Govert

Ginger and Darvin Mulkey

Earll and Rena Murman

David I and Barbara Nelson

Janet and David Nelson

Dr Elaine and Dr Gary Nelson

David and Laurie Neuenschwander

Dick and Donna Nockleby

Ann Norton

Michael and Kathy Nyby

Beth Orling and Robert Zimmerman

Robin Ornelas

Michael and Linda Oswald

David and Danna Owens

Linnea Patrick

Gregory and Carol Paulson

Nils Pedersen and Joyce Francis

Steve and Cheryl Petrick

Don and Claudia Pieper

Matthew Powell

Richard and Geralynn Rackowski

Rainshadow Inspection Services

Robert and Nancy Reasoner

Jacklyn and Cliff Rick

Jackson and Karen Riggen

Russell and Maria Ritter

Garth Roark

Catharine Robinson

Jack and Carolyn Salmon

Larry and Audrey Sanderson

David Segleau

Jeanne and Duke Shold

Sandra Smith-Poling and Mitchell Poling

Ruth Solnit

Ariel Speser and Nat Jacobs

Sue Stam and Peter Cook

Jan Stewart

Mike and Leslie Sweeney

Diane Thompson

Chuck Thrasher and Kathi Boyker

Timothy and Alice Tibbals

James and Barbara Tipton

Barbara Tusting

Connie and Tom Unsicker

Gerard and Jacqueline Walsh

Clinton and Pat Webb

Tom and Wendy White

Deb Wiese and Tudi Haasl

D. Wigley

Rachel Williams

Leslie S Williams

Lynn Williams

Christopher and Sherryl Wilson

Kim Younger

Rick and Deborah Zajicek