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 8/17/2026

In some years, summer months can be an excellent time to build Habitat homes, but the exceptional number of hot weather days this year does pose a challenge to progress. However, despite this, much work is being accomplished, and new home construction is on schedule. Building continues in the Bloom neighborhood in northeast Fort Collins, along with the new homes under construction at Heartside Hill (i.e., northwest corner of South Lemay Ave and East Trilby Rd). Our Saviour’s is helping to support two Faith Build homes in the Bloom subdivision. The home for Brady is nearly finished and will be dedicated this fall. A home for our second Faith Build family, Maddy and Coleman plus their daughter Violet, is in its early stage with a wall raising ceremony planned for late summer or early fall. While the weather this summer may be warm, I have lots of even hotter news from Habitat to share with you in the updates below.

Closing of Habitat’s ReStore. As mentioned in the July newsletter, the Fort Collins ReStore is closing. The last day that they will accept donations is October 31and the last day that their doors will be open is November 30. If you have items to donate, please take them to their drop-off site behind the ReStore building located at 4001 S Taft Hill Rd.
Christmas Market Expansion. This year the OSLC Christmas Market will be expanding to sell baked goods, jams, jellies, honey, dried floral arrangements and gift baskets, along with handcrafted items such as paintings, crafts, woodworking, framed photography, fabric art (knitting, crocheting, quilting, and more), pottery/ceramics, sculptures, welded art, basket weaving and much more. In addition to these categories, I am now looking for volunteers to create baked goods, spreadable items, floral arrangements, gift baskets and similar items that represent the joy of this special season. A second expansion is that the market will now be held in the Fellowship Hall where we will have more tables to display all the beautiful works for sale. Funds raised from Christmas Market will go to support Habitat’s Faith Build homes for Maddy and Coleman, and the one for Brady. Please let me know if I have twisted your creative arm enough to want to make items for the Christmas Market. Please let me know what you would like to create and I will add your name to our list of talented contributors.
Save the Date for Fun Faith Builder Events. The 28th annual Pasta in the Rockies will be held on Saturday, September 12, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church located at 1709 West Elizabeth St. You will be served a delicious Italian-style meal with lots of pasta. Funds raised from this event go to the Faith Build homes that we also support. Secondly, the annual Ockoberfest celebration for Habitat will be held on Saturday, September 26, time TBD, at Trinity Lutheran Church located at 301 East Stuart St. The evening will be hosted by the three 301 Faith Partner churches. If you like handcrafted German-style beer served with home cooked food and lots of other delicious sweet treats, be sure to bring your beer stein, along with all your friends, and attend this exciting event. This is also a fundraising event for Habitat’s Faith Build homes.
FOCOLU and the Fort Collins Faith Builder Program Featured at Habitat’s International Conference in Atlanta. Surprisingly, the formation of FOCOLU Faith Builders and the overall Faith Builders program as part of Fort Collins Habitat, is something I thought was commonplace in other communities, but apparently it is not that common. Consequently, Fort Collins Habitat has been asked to present information about what Faith Builders do here to an international audience at their conference in October. Chad Bauer, Habitat’s Faith and Legacy Giving Manager, along with Cindi Ross-Bell, Faith Champion from First United Methodist Church, and myself have been asked to give two talks in the areas of: 1) Where Faith and Fundraising Meet: Proven Partnership Models; and, 2) Strengthening Community Impact Through Strategic Faith Engagement. While recognition of what we have achieved in Fort Collins is good, most important though is that we have an opportunity to share our story with many other groups seeking greater success with faith organizations. A big thank you to everyone at Our Saviour’s who has helped make the Faith Builder program what it is today.

These are the highlights for now. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks again for all your wonderful support!

Jerry

P.S. The Christmas Market needs YOU!