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North Collin County Habitat group to build in Honduras
Photo courtesy of NCC Habitat – Since 1998, Habitat for Humanity has helped build more than 10,000 houses in Honduras, many of them earthquake-resistant with trenches, concrete walls and corrugated zinc roofs. North Collin County Habitat will send a 12-person team to Honduras later this month.
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
North Collin County Habitat for Humanity soon will again widen its reach - to Central America.
Later this month, the organization will send a 12-member team to Honduras, to put their work where their money is, a hands-on addition to the Healthy Housing Project it's helping to fund.
The team, a compilation of past and present NCC Habitat staff, board members and volunteers, will spend Feb. 15-24 traveling to and staying at an orphanage in the Third World village through Habitat for Humanity International's Global Village initiative, for which volunteers expand their community's local mission around the nation and globe.
For the most part, though, they'll be doing what Habitat does best.
"This year we chose for our funds to go to Honduras, and we wanted to go where our funding was to build," said Celeste Cox, NCC Habitat executive director and team leader. "Because they don't have a lot of volunteers in the country, sending money isn't enough; they want us to send money and volunteer to help build the houses."
NCC Habitat annually reserves 10 percent of its unrestricted funds for Habitat International, but typically sends just the money to projects in other countries. This year, it sent $23,000 to the Honduran project, enough to fund several houses, and already committed $13,000 for the project next year.
Cox and her husband, David, another team member, went to Haiti a year ago with the Jimmy Carter Work Project, through which they and a much larger group built houses under the cover of Secret Service and machine-gun protection, Cox said. This time, she wanted a more intimate group that would be responsible for all of the work.
In its 20 years, NCC Habitat has sent annual tithes to other places like Egypt, South America and Asia. Honduras' economic and social climate made for an easy choice for this year's and next year's 10 percent tithe. With nearly two-thirds of Hondurans living in poverty, according to Habitat's website, the organization for many years has recognized the need for its presence there.
Since its founding in 1988, Habitat for Humanity Honduras has built more than 10,000 houses, providing simple, affordable shelter for more than 35,000 Hondurans in need of earthquake-resistant houses made with concrete floors, block walls and corrugated zinc roofs. NCC Habitat is joining that mission.
"I'm most excited about meeting the people and being a part of something that's bigger," said Sheila Miller, part-time NCC Habitat assistant and former Volunteer McKinney director. "We get so stuck in what's happening right here; this will be reaching out to a bigger and broader world."
Led by Cox, NCC Habitat's first paid staff member, the team will fly into Honduras before taking a three-hour bus ride and brief plane ride to the inner, poverty-stricken village. There they'll meet Karla Michel and her 2-year-old son, Carlos, both of whom have just two fingers on each hand.
Living with her mother in Puerto Lempira, Karla used to work as a cook but has difficulty finding employment because of her disability, Cox said.
As do other Hondurans in the lobstering-heavy region, she said, because many acquire decompression sickness, or "the bends," from diving deep under water for the food, causing oxygen to build up around their joints and hampering their mobility.
But just as with Collin County builds, the recipients will put in their share of sweat equity; Karla and Carlos will help the team build their new home. The team will dig a trench, line rebar, erect concrete walls and, if there's time, put on the metal roof.
"It'll be more intimate (than in Haiti)," Cox said. "We'll be staying in the orphanage, so we'll get to meet all the kids...so this time we'll get to know the local culture."
Miller and her husband, Richard, will be celebrating Miller's first year with NCC Habitat - and their 40-year wedding anniversary. "We went very briefly to Honduras on a cruise," Miller said, "but that's a whole different ballgame."
The Michels will be the 28th international family NCC Habitat has served through its yearly tithe program, far fewer than the 80-plus families for which it has built homes in Collin County since 1992. Yet, the Global Village trip could give the organization an outlook local builds can't. It gives it a reach felt in separate worlds.
"These trips just give you more passion and compassion," Cox said. "I think it will increase our awareness locally, because if you have 12 people talking about an experience, more people will be excited about our global building as well as our local building."
Later this month, the organization will send a 12-member team to Honduras, to put their work where their money is, a hands-on addition to the Healthy Housing Project it's helping to fund.
The team, a compilation of past and present NCC Habitat staff, board members and volunteers, will spend Feb. 15-24 traveling to and staying at an orphanage in the Third World village through Habitat for Humanity International's Global Village initiative, for which volunteers expand their community's local mission around the nation and globe.
For the most part, though, they'll be doing what Habitat does best.
"This year we chose for our funds to go to Honduras, and we wanted to go where our funding was to build," said Celeste Cox, NCC Habitat executive director and team leader. "Because they don't have a lot of volunteers in the country, sending money isn't enough; they want us to send money and volunteer to help build the houses."
NCC Habitat annually reserves 10 percent of its unrestricted funds for Habitat International, but typically sends just the money to projects in other countries. This year, it sent $23,000 to the Honduran project, enough to fund several houses, and already committed $13,000 for the project next year.
Cox and her husband, David, another team member, went to Haiti a year ago with the Jimmy Carter Work Project, through which they and a much larger group built houses under the cover of Secret Service and machine-gun protection, Cox said. This time, she wanted a more intimate group that would be responsible for all of the work.
In its 20 years, NCC Habitat has sent annual tithes to other places like Egypt, South America and Asia. Honduras' economic and social climate made for an easy choice for this year's and next year's 10 percent tithe. With nearly two-thirds of Hondurans living in poverty, according to Habitat's website, the organization for many years has recognized the need for its presence there.
Since its founding in 1988, Habitat for Humanity Honduras has built more than 10,000 houses, providing simple, affordable shelter for more than 35,000 Hondurans in need of earthquake-resistant houses made with concrete floors, block walls and corrugated zinc roofs. NCC Habitat is joining that mission.
"I'm most excited about meeting the people and being a part of something that's bigger," said Sheila Miller, part-time NCC Habitat assistant and former Volunteer McKinney director. "We get so stuck in what's happening right here; this will be reaching out to a bigger and broader world."
Led by Cox, NCC Habitat's first paid staff member, the team will fly into Honduras before taking a three-hour bus ride and brief plane ride to the inner, poverty-stricken village. There they'll meet Karla Michel and her 2-year-old son, Carlos, both of whom have just two fingers on each hand.
Living with her mother in Puerto Lempira, Karla used to work as a cook but has difficulty finding employment because of her disability, Cox said.
As do other Hondurans in the lobstering-heavy region, she said, because many acquire decompression sickness, or "the bends," from diving deep under water for the food, causing oxygen to build up around their joints and hampering their mobility.
But just as with Collin County builds, the recipients will put in their share of sweat equity; Karla and Carlos will help the team build their new home. The team will dig a trench, line rebar, erect concrete walls and, if there's time, put on the metal roof.
"It'll be more intimate (than in Haiti)," Cox said. "We'll be staying in the orphanage, so we'll get to meet all the kids...so this time we'll get to know the local culture."
Miller and her husband, Richard, will be celebrating Miller's first year with NCC Habitat - and their 40-year wedding anniversary. "We went very briefly to Honduras on a cruise," Miller said, "but that's a whole different ballgame."
The Michels will be the 28th international family NCC Habitat has served through its yearly tithe program, far fewer than the 80-plus families for which it has built homes in Collin County since 1992. Yet, the Global Village trip could give the organization an outlook local builds can't. It gives it a reach felt in separate worlds.
"These trips just give you more passion and compassion," Cox said. "I think it will increase our awareness locally, because if you have 12 people talking about an experience, more people will be excited about our global building as well as our local building."
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