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