Our Lady Of Fatima at 545 Norway Avenue, Huntington, WV 25705 US - Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity - Interfaith Build
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Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity - Interfaith Build
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Our Lady of Fatima and the Jewish congregation of B’nai Sholom came together in 2005 for Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity’s very first Interfaith build. This was a monumental step for both our congregations; not only working together on the Habitat house, but also in developing a lasting relationship between our two faiths. It was our hope that we grow to better understand each other’s religion, practices and customs.
Members of both our congregations raised the funds to pay for building materials and provided volunteers to work on the house. Our congregations were assisted by a group from Michigan State University who volunteered through an organization called Springtime in Appalachia. This was their third consecutive year at the Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity’s affiliate.
Although, children ages 14 and under could not legally help on-site with construction, children from Fatima and B’nai Sholom worked on a project during the build. They learned about what Habitat does for the partner family by building houses with Lego logs or drawing what they think the house should look like according to Habitat requirements.
The house was built for Cara Casey and her seven year old son, Tyler. Cara and/or members of her family completed a required 350 sweat equity hours into Habitat projects, including work on their own house. The house was then sold to Cara Casey at no profit, and was financed through affordable, interest-free mortgage loans from Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity. The money from the monthly mortgage payment was then fed back into a fund used to build another Habitat house.
Without the help of local churches like Fatima and B’nai Sholom and individuals from the Huntington community, our local Habitat affiliate would not exist. Although they do have annual fundraisers, they depend heavily on individual and corporate contributions to continue the great work they do for our city.
Pictures from the ground breaking...
