wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Participants Break for Community Service

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 21, 1999

ELCA ASSEMBLY PARTICIPANTS BREAK FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE
99-CWA-43-LS

     DENVER (ELCA)-- Although the afternoon was free from meetings and
plenary sessions, more than 50 participants in the 1999 Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly spent their time
building Habitat for Humanity homes in metro Denver.
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the
ELCA, is meeting Aug. 16-22 here at the Colorado Convention Center.
There are more than 2,500 people participating, including 1,038 ELCA
voting members.  The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ
Known: Hope for a New Century."
     In celebration of the assembly in Denver, 10 Habitat for Humanity
homes will be built, two on Akron Street in Aurora, Colo., and eight in
Mexico, said the Rev. John S. Petty, All Saints Lutheran Church, Denver
and area director for church relations, Habitat for Humanity, as a
celebration of the Churchwide Assembly in Denver.
     "We thought the best way to do that would be to do some kinds of
service so people could know that Lutherans are here and active in this
community," said Petty.
     In 1995, the ELCA declared itself in partnership with Habitat for
Humanity. A goal of the house-building this week was to "celebrate that
partnership and to show the metro Denver area that our church is about
service to others and caring for others and wanting to make an impact on
local communities," he said.
     Petty added that the church has always been the "basic foundation,
the rock" upon which Habitat for Humanity was built.
     ELCA workers at the Habitat site poured cement, put trusses on a
roof, sided the house, landscaped and built a retaining wall for a
driveway, said Len Robinson, construction supervisor for houses built
during the assembly.
     "There wasn't anything I'd rather do this afternoon than work
here," said Debbie Burditt, a voting member from Sandpoint, Idaho.
     "The (ELCA) Rocky Mountain Synod people have been fabulous
servants to us. It's a way of giving something back to them," said Randy
Mullin, Genesco, Ill.
     Mullin, a physician, has done Habitat work before. "It's good
honest work," he said.
     One house that ELCA participants helped build will be dedicated
Aug. 22 to Denver resident Denise Williams. With her three sons,
Williams lives in a two-bedroom apartment with faulty wiring and heating
problems that is located in an unsafe area. Each family that receives a
Habitat house is required to put in 500 hours of "sweat equity" or work
on the house, Petty said.
     Families are chosen on the basis of need, income and willingness
work on the house. The house is sold to families at no profit and with
no-interest loans   families typically pay less each month for a Habitat
house than they currently pay for an apartment, Petty said.
     With the addition of the two new houses, 11 Habitat houses have
been built on Akron Street in the last two years. While most ELCA
participants worked on the two new houses, some helped put finishing
touches on other houses on the street.
     Outside one nearly-finished home, Elida Fierro and her nine-year-old daughter Yesenia worked to dig a hole in a flower bed and place
stones for a walkway. The Fierros will move into the home in three to
four weeks, said Yesenia Fierro.
     "I'm so happy, so excited," said Elida Fierro, who said a friend
told her about Habitat for Humanity. The Fierros were accepted for the
program, although "I didn't believe it at first," Elida Fierro said.
     "We already wanted to move. There was no safe place to play,"
Yesenia Fierro said.
     Petty said Habitat for Humanity is a service of mission. "Not only
do you build a house for a family in need in partnership with God's
people, but we're also helping to revitalize the church by calling the
church to it's historic mission which is service in the world and care
for the poor, building up the community and providing a way for people
to live out that mission in their daily life," Petty said.
     A grant for the project was provided by Lutheran Brotherhood, a
fraternal benefits organization based in Minneapolis.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html