Culver City Build Project Updates
Thank you for your support! The purpose of this e-newsletter is to keep donors and interested volunteers from Venice Free Methodist Church informed about the Habitat LA project in Culver City.
hALLELUJAH! mAY 1, 2020
On Saturday, May 20, 2017, the Mulvihill Family found out that they had been accepted to become owners of a Habitat for Humanity home in Culver City.
On Friday, May 1, 2020, the Mulvihill Family closed escrow and received their keys to "Patience House," their new home. The home which has four bedrooms and two bathrooms has a first floor that meets Americans with Disabilities requirements enabling the youngest son, Kendall, who uses a motorized wheelchair to have greater independence. We praise God for answering their prayers for a safe, affordable, and accessible home through this project. We are grateful to be a witness to Emmanuel in Culver City and to the body of Christ coming together to serve our neighbor. Hallelujah!
There will be a formal dedication ceremony in July or August depending on the lifting of restrictions on large gatherings. In the meantime, our Westside Church Coalition is organizing an appropriate "social distancing" celebration in a couple weeks to commemorate this milestone. We will send out the details once they are final.
Update about the Culver City Habitat LA Build Project:
Homeowners have moved in to houses #1-4
Escrow closed on houses #5 and #6 (Patience House)
Professional crews continue to work on houses #7-10. Projections are that these last four houses will be completed by June, 2020.
THANK YOU to everyone who donated money for the construction materials, to those who came out to volunteer to build, and to all who prayed for this project. None of this could have happened without all of you.
A special shout-out to Linda Akutagawa who initiated Venice Free Methodist Church's involvement with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles and to the eight other churches who joined Venice Church in the fundraising and building effort (Westlight, Marina Christian Fellowhship, SOMA Culver City, West Los Angeles United Methodist Church, Westwood Church, First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica, Culver-Palms United Methodist Church and West Los Angeles Holiness Church.)
CELEBRATE WITH US ON mAY 30, 2020!
Update: October 2019!
Thank you for your support! The purpose of this e-newsletter is to keep donors and interested volunteers from Venice Free Methodist Church informed about the Habitat LA project in Culver City. If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter, please click on the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the page.
Newsletter highlights:
Patience House almost completed
3 more spots available for November 2 build day
October 24, 2019
The Powell Family and Park Family have moved into houses #1 and #2, respectively. The home dedication ceremony was held on August 15 and the mayor of Culver City, members of our Westside Church Coalition, sponsors and community members attended this special event.
Patience House is almost completed. The scaffolding around the building has been removed. Drywall and flooring have been installed. The kitchen cabinets have been delivered. Ramps into the home are complete. The sidewalk and driveway around the home are being prepared for cement. The home is expected to be finished by the end of the year with a dedication ceremony planned for January.
In addition, the foundations for houses #7, 8, 9 and 10 are completed. Framing will begin this winter.
Patience House
Final Coalition Build Day: Saturday, November 2
We have 3 more spots available for our final Coalition build day at the Culver City site. If you have not had a chance to build yet or you would like one more chance, click here to sign up. Information about how to register on Habitat LA's Volunteer Hub will be sent to you. The time commitment is from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. A special celebration lunch will be provided by Westlight Community Church. Recommended clothing are closed toe shoes, long pants, and shirt with sleeves (short sleeves are fine, but no tank tops). Please be prepared to bring a reusable water bottle. The minimum age to volunteer onsite is 16.
March 1, 2019
Habitat LA and all of its volunteers continue to make progress in spite of the recent rains. Patience House now has a second floor and a roof. Houses #1 and #2 are expected to be finished by early spring 2019. Houses #3, 4, 5, and 6 (Patience House) will be finished by late summer. Foundations on the 4 remaining houses will begin during the summer as well.
Thank you to Bill and Denise Pike, Ruth Rubke, Denise Huang, Catherine Matsuda, and Lynn Namba for serving lunch to the volunteers, crew leaders, and staff during our Friday, March 1 build day. Emiko Kuwata, Gordon Yamamoto, Evelyn Baker and her friend Justine represented Venice FMC and joined with other volunteers from our Westside Church Coalition to install windows, cover roof tops, paint and assist with other construction work.
Sneak Peek into house #2
November 1, 2018
Habitat LA and all of its volunteers have made a lot of progress at the Culver City site. As you can see from some of the pictures taken at the October 6 build day, several houses now have second floors. Volunteers have been framing roof tops, installing insulation, and painting window frames.
jUNE 23, 2018
What a difference a month makes! Praise be to God! From the bare foundations to first floor walls, much progress has been made at the Habitat site. To kick off the build, pastors and leaders from the sponsoring groups came out on June 6th to pray over the site, the families, and the volunteers who will buidl the homes. On June 8th, Habitat LA hosted the "Hollywood Industry" Build Day and on June 9th the "Power Women, Power Tools" event. As a result of these cvolunteer efforts, the first floor walls are now in place.
Volunteers were encouraged to write notes and prayers to the families on the wood beams.
The Westside Church Coalition will send out its first team of volunteers on July 7th. The Coalition sponsored House #6 which will be the future home of the Mulvihill Family.
Venice fmc volunteers
The build dates assigned to Venice FMC volunteers are:
Friday, March 1, 2019
Saturday, May 4 2019
Saturday, July 13, 2019
We often have volunteer cancellations. If you would like to be contacted to fill one of these spots, please sign up to be on our "On Call Builders" list on the sign up site.
To reserve a spot, please go to: http://signup.com/go/THArV9
westside church coalition and patience house
Venice Free Methodist Church has partnered with the following churches to form the Westside Church Coalition and to sponsor one of the 10 Habitat homes:
Westlight Community Church
Marina Christian Fellowship
West Los Angeles United Methodist Church
Westwood United Methodist Church
First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica
Culver-Palms United Methodist Church
SOMA Culver City
The Church in Ocean Park
The Coalition named the house it is sponsoring "Patience House" due to the long time it has taken for the project to reach this stage. However, the delays have turned into opportunities for dialogue, fundraising, and deepening relationships among the participating churches.
Mulvilhill Family
Habitat LA chose the Mulvihill Family to be the new homeowners of Patience House. Kaoru and her sons, Ryan, Mason, Trent and Kendall are active at Westlight Community Church and are familiar faces to many at Venice FMC. We look forward to working side-by-side with them to build their new home.
Financial Support
If you would like to support Habitat's Culver City project, you can make an online donation through this link: https://www.crowdrise.com/westside-church-coalition
QUESTIONS?
Contact Dianne Tyau at 310-702-3556 or at habitat@venicechurch.org
