Habitat for Humanity - Our Saviour's Lutheran Church

Habitat

Our Saviour’s helps to support Habitat for Humanity as this organization builds safe, secure, and affordable homes in our community. Habitat’s mission is putting God’s love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities, and hope. We assist Habitat in this mission by volunteering to: 1) help with home construction, 2) serve lunch to construction volunteers, 3) sell goods at Habitat’s ReStore, 4) provide leadership on youth projects, 5) help with fundraising for future faith-build homes, and 6) join volunteer efforts to help families in other countries through Habitat’s Global Village.

Many of these volunteer activities are shared efforts with the three other ELCA Lutheran churches in Ft. Collins, along with two partner churches, in the formation of FOCOLU-Habitat Faith Builders. Through our FOCOLU partnership, OSLC volunteers can help build Habitat homes one day each month for about 10 months of the year.

Updated 5/14/2025

This May update on OSLC’s Habitat activities is a perfect time to acknowledge with gratitude the volunteer work of so many of our members. As mentioned previously, we are in the final stages of construction at Harmony Cottages, which began about 8 years ago with a kickstart from OSLC’s contribution consisting of a fundraising tithe donation created when we remodeled our church building. Now Habitat is nearing the completion of 48 new homes for families being built at this location. Your continued support has helped to make a difference in the lives of many families and in our community. Thank you! Here are some special updates for May:

Faith Builders Luncheon on May 15. Two Habitat homes are being built this year by the Fort Collins faith community. OSLC is working with about two dozen other churches to fund the construction of these new homes and the special luncheon on Thursday, May 15, is a chance to meet the two families selected to purchase these houses. The luncheon will be held at First United Methodist Church from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. Delicious luncheon food items are being catered by Austin’s Grill; however, an RSVP to the invitation (see attached invitation) by May 12 is needed so the planners will know how much food to provide. Please join me and many of your friends from OSLC to participate in this event. To RSVP click on the link: Click here.
OSLC Youth Project for Habitat. Our OSLC youth group has been asked by Habitat to decorate birdhouses that will serve as table centerpieces at the Faith Builders Luncheon. Affordable houses for birds were constructed by Jim Shumaker, John and Adrienne Eisele, Bob Risberg, and me. Our amazing youth, with Pastor Michael’s help, have teamed up to provide exceptional artistic touches to make these houses an attractive, safe and secure place for neighborhood birds to use in raising their families (see attached photo). These decorative and fancy birdhouses will be auctioned off at the Faith Builder’s Luncheon to help raise additional funds for the two 2025 Faith Build homes.
Status of 2024 Faith Build homes. Marshelle’s home, along with the one for Luis and Elida, are shown in the attached photo. Marshelle’s house is the one on the right in the photo and on the left side of the duplex is the home for Luis and Elida. Marshelle joined our intrepid group of Faith Builder volunteers last Saturday to continue work on the construction of her new home. Both homes are expected to be completed this summer, and I will let you know when dedication festivities are scheduled.
FOCOLU Build Day Last Saturday. A special thank you to Alan Oetken, Jeff Boyton, and Richard Johnson for their terrific work last Saturday on several new homes at Harmony Cottages. Please congratulate these OSLC construction heroes for a job well done. Attached is a photo of the entire group working last Saturday which shows the fun-loving nature of our volunteers, future home buyers and Habitat’s construction staff. Lunch was provided by OSLC’s worksite culinary team who prepared dishes encompassing a variety northern Italian-style food items. A special thanks to Ann Seitzinger and Melanie Reed for helping to serve food to a ravenous crew of builders.
Next FOCOLU Build Day. Our next FOCOLU Faith Build Day is on Thursday, June 12. This will likely be our last opportunity to build at the Harmony Cottages site, because after June we don’t have another Build Day until October. The outstanding chefs from Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church will be providing a delicious and creative lunch for volunteers to enjoy. If you would like to join in the fun while helping to build new homes on Thursday, June 12, please let me know. We need 3-4 OSLC volunteers to join other FOCOLU builders.