Executive Meeting and Habitat for Humanity Program

by Bill McDiarmid

HFMS Meeting September 25, 2008, Sheridan College

Attendees: 18 members & two guests

  1. Fred opened the meeting and thanked those in attendance for coming to the meeting.
  2. Fred announced that both Franco DeSimone and Ralph Abell had joined the "Members at Large", a sub committee of the executive.
  3. Fred asked that any new ideas thought of for promoting HFMS be forwarded to Michael Arts.
  4. Bill was advised to send the meeting notes to Steven Sather.
  5. The members seconded a motion to send Brian Taylor a big Thank You for all the years of service he has performed for HFMS.
  6. After all the votes were in and the ballets counted we are proud to announce the following appointments:
    1. Roger McIlmoyle's campaign proved successful. He is now VP of HFMS
    2. Craig fought off all contenders and will remain our Treasurer.
  7. Fred will try to find an interesting speaker for the Oct. 23 meeting on "Designing & making Chairs".
  8. Fred will also contact Peter regarding a Photo Session.
  9. The guest speaker for the evening was Mr. Jim Matz representing Habitat for Humanity. Jim provided us with a comprehensive overview of what H for H is all about and what their major objectives are. The following lists some of the main points:
    1. Their target market is the Halton area.
    2. They give a Hand-Up not a Hand-out.
    3. A typical house is approx. 1,000 sq. feet.
    4. Their Vision is a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.
    5. The Canadian group was founded in 1985, with Halton region coming on board in 1999. There are now 72 affiliates across Canada and over 2,300 in 100 countries.
    6. H for H has already built approx. 1,000 houses in Canada.
    7. One of the qualifications to be considered for a home is that you must have two people working full time making less than the poverty line or about $30,000.
    8. Each family member over 16 years of age must put in 500 hours of work either on the house or working at the ReStore. There are other work options.
    9. You must be able to pay the mortgage. The first mortgage is equal to the total coat of what it took to build the house. This is interest free. The second mortgage is equal to the difference between the first mortgage and the overall value of the whole property.
    10. H for H operates a store called ReStore, where they sell used housing items. This helps to off-set some of their overhead.
  10. After the presentation the HFMS members discussed some ideas around making some furniture pieces that could be auctioned off at events hosted by H for H. Further discussion is required before any final decision can be made.

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