Habitat for Humanity to focus on home repairs in 2025
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 8 months AGO
Habitat for Humanity volunteers help a Moses Lake family raise the walls of their new home in 2014. Habitat has built 15 homes from scratch in Moses Lake over the last 30 years, but it will concentrate on repairing existing homes next year instead.
FILE PHOTO
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | December 19, 2024 2:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — Habitat for Humanity of Greater Moses Lake will focus on repairing existing homes rather than building a new one in 2025.
The money raised at this year’s Festival of Trees on Dec. 7 will go toward Habitat’s A Brush with Kindness program, helping low-income homeowners with repairs and safety modifications to their homes. HFHGML has participated in A Brush with Kindness in the past, according to Habitat Executive Director Rebecca Mabius, but in 2025 that will be the organization’s sole focus.
The event raised a little more than $70,000, according to Mabius, considerably less than last year’s almost $92,000.
“With an election year, with everything happening in the community, with inflation, we knew going into this that (while) we were hoping to make at least as much as we did last year, we weren’t able to make that number.”
The anticipated decrease between money raised this year and last is part of why HFHGML decided to focus on A Brush with Kindness rather than building a home in 2025, Mabius said. Applications for home repairs will be opened up in January, she said, and will stay open until all the funds are spoken for. What kinds of repairs are done will depend on the need, she said.
“This past year, we had a lot of individuals who needed support with replacing or repairing roofs, and so that's what we did,” she said. “We anticipate some of that this year, but we would really like to focus on putting handrails in.”
The national Habitat for Humanity organization’s website says that A Brush with Kindness repairs are strictly external, like roofing or painting, but Mabius said local organizations have some autonomy in that area, and HFHGML will take on a wider variety of projects.
“We’ve done … repairing the poles that hold up their garage or the carport,” she said. “We replaced a mainline to somebody’s house that cracked due to roots. We've had a couple other like repairs like that, so we consider our Brush with Kindness program (for) minor to critical repairs.”
Pastor Eric Frey, of Moses Lake Presbyterian Church, delivered an opening prayer at the Festival of Trees, asking a blessing on Habitat for Humanity and its work. God likes to see his children safe and secure, Frey said.
“This is an organization that provides homes for people,” he said. “There’s nothing like being able to pull up in front of your own home and to know that it’s yours, that it’s where you can, not just rest your head but share your meals and love your family and that in their home, they will be safe.”
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.