Habitat for Humanity to the rescue

Throughout the Diocese of Baton Rouge flood victims can receive very generous help from Habitat for Humanity.  The BR chapter will cut out wet sheetrock and spray the flooded area to stop mold, all free of charge.

Call 225-927-6651.

Remember Habitat in your prayers and when it's time to make a donation.  Thank you Habitat!ha

To live a life of a servant

Co-founder of St. Tammany West Habitat for Humanity, Emily Diamond, dies at 89

Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 4:43 PM     Updated: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 4:50 PM

By Jim Derry, The Times-Picayune NOLA.com

 

Emily Glossbrenner Diamond, a civil rights activist and co-founder of Louisiana's first Habitat for Humanity chapter in Covington, died Friday in Robbinsville, N.C. She was 89.

Emily Diamond

Best known for her work with Habitat, Ms. Diamond volunteered much of her time to community service. She also was a co-founder and later secretary and treasurer for the Community Relations Council of Covington, which worked to better relations between black and white people during the 1960s and 1970s.
With Ms. Diamond's assistance, the council formed its own credit union which served to assist low-income families in securing loans for housing. She managed the credit union from its opening in 1969 until 1985.
"She saw the inequities in housing and education and economics (in the mid-to-late 1960s), and she just threw herself into the black community." said one of her seven children, David Diamond. "That's where she rebuilt herself."
After a trip to Americus, Ga., to meet Habitat founder Millard Fuller, she became the driving force to open the nation's 10th affiliate and first in Louisiana in 1981. According to St. Tammany West Habitat's president and chief executive officer, Jeffery St. Romain, that chapter has built 202 homes for those in need in the area.
Today, Habitat has more than 1,500 affiliates in the United States and about 550 more internationally.
Ms. Diamond continued to volunteer in the Covington commmunity until about three years ago. She spent most of the late 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s working at Faith Bible Church in Covington, in large part assisting those in a drug rehabilitation program.
"I admired her very much," said Pat Clanton, who served on the Covington City Council from 1987-95 and 2003-07. "I can only say that Emily Diamond was a lovely, gentle, wonderful person, and she gave of her time freely to people in need. I think that she had the admiration of many our community.
"Everything that Emily did, it seemed to me, she did it in a quiet and gentle way. ... She was so gracious, and she drew people to her without even trying to."
She was a native of Indianapolis and attended Swarthmore (Pa.) College and Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. A resident of Covington since 1959, Ms. Diamond was a receptionist and secretary at St. Paul's School from 1964 to 1967, taught third grade at Rosenwald Elementary in Covington in 1967 and taught kindergarten in Madisonville from 1970 to 1975.
After becoming ill in 2008, she moved to Robbinsville to live with her daughter, Kathryn Lynch.
"We were raised believing the same thing my mom believed: that one person can make a difference in the world," David Diamond said. "She firmly believed in the amazing and the absolute value of every human being on the earth. That's what I take from her."
Ms. Diamond's survivors include Lynch and David Diamond, along with five other children: Daniel, Susan, Jessie, Stanley and Jed Diamond. She also had 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
A time and date for a memorial service has not been determined.

Great Habitat event here locally

Habitat Women Build kicks off near Covington

Published: Monday, October 10, 2011, 12:00 PM

By Sarah Bonnette The Times-Picayune Habitat for Humanity St. Tammany West’s Women Build event for 2011 is full swing, with women volunteers donning hard hats to help build homes for two families. The yearly campaign encourages women volunteers, without excluding men, to further the home-building mission of Habitat STW and improve the lives of children by making home ownership a reality for families.

The program was started by Atlanta-based Habitat International. This is the eighth year Habitat STW has participated, according to Development Director Jennifer Moskowitz.
Karen Slaton, the chairwomen of Women Build 2011, said the campaign also is about creating a fun atmosphere for the women who volunteer.
“We’ve had new recruits this year, and they’ve already decided to come out to volunteer again,” Slaton said, adding that volunteers still are needed this month and beyond to complete the two houses. Available volunteer slots can be found on the Women Build calendar page on Habitat STW’s web site, ww.habitatstw.org.
The homes are located in the Abita Nursery subdivision between Covington and Abita Springs, where Habitat for Humanity STW has built close to 100 homes, Moskowitz said.
A four- bedroom house is being constructed for Regena and Joseph Smith, who are parents to four boys ages 18 to 28. They lived in a rented trailers, some of which had holes in the floor, until partnering with Habitat STW.
A second three-bedroom house is being built for the Kristen Winsten and her two children. Winsten only could afford an apartment with rental assistance. The apartment complex’s living conditions were unacceptable, she said, and in 2010, she partnered with Habitat STW to own a home.
The Smiths and Winsten will pay no-interest mortgages on their homes, and they must put in sweat equity hours helping build their home or those of other Habitat families.
By the end of Women Build, the goal is to have the Winsten and Smith homes framed and finished enough to be dry from the weather, Moskowitz said.
Completion of the homes is dependent on the weather but could happen sometime between the holidays and January. Volunteers will do most of the work, except for installation of plumbing, electrical and heating and air conditioning systems.
Last week, women from the Professional Women of St. Tammany brought 20 volunteers to the sites to framing and weatherization of the homes. The non-profit group, made up of women from across St. Tammany Parish, is dedicated to promoting education and community service, its president, Betty Motichek, said
They hold their biggest fund-raiser of the year Oct. 20 to name the St. Tammany Parish Woman of the Year and raise money for scholarships.
The group aims to do a community service project every two months. They have participated in Women Build before, Motichek said, but this year marked their biggest turnout of volunteers.
“You feel so rewarded after you do it,” she said.
Women Build volunteers are asked to make a $30 contribution to cover the cost of building materials. For the first time this year, the Professional Women of St. Tammany paid for the contributions for all its members.
“Women Build is the only time we ask people to make a donation because we’re encouraging women to come build and raise funds to build. All their money goes back into buying construction for these two homes directly,” Moskowitz said.
For more information on Women Build, or for any other Habitat activities, call 893.3172 or send an email to volunteer@habitatstw.org. Information also can be found at http://www.habitatstw.org/

>>>They do such great work here in Abita Springs, Covington, etc.