TO: John & Joanne Fristoe at jefristoe@gmail.com
The January 16th meeting of the District United Methodist Men was hosted by Sulphur Grove UMC. John Sherer reports:
Miami Valley District United Methodist Men's
January 17, 2012 Meeting
Program summary
The program for the MVDUMM meeting was presented by Ms. Frieda Brigner, Development Director for Dayton area Habitat for Humanities. She gave a wonderful presentation to the nearly 50 men who attended. The following represents some of the comments she made.
Habitat of Dayton serves all of the Miami Valley Counties.
Their houses are energy star houses and catered to the size of the family who will live there. The family must apply and go through an interview process to determine if they have the resources and have the need to own a home.
They must take a 40 hour class, learning such things as finances of owning a home, simple repairs and upkeep of a house, legal issues, a will, taxes involved, they must have income, must give 300 sweat hours of labor to their own house of which ½ is to other houses being built.
The cost of the average home is about $100,000.00. They will use professional electricians, plumbers, and foundation Masons but the rest is all volunteer hours. From start to finish, from the time of application, to a finished house, it may take up to three (3) years. In this time the party may earn the necessary $1,000.00 required down before the build.
Ms. Brigner talked about their "RESTORE" program
where businesses can donate items such as roofing, other building materials and where volunteers can assist customers, donors, stock products, arrange inventory, pick up donations, answer the phones, assist with e-commerce efforts, and perform cashier duties. They need volunteers for Tuesdays through Saturdays. To volunteer call 937-586-0860 ext 16 or e-mail at
They are building three (3) houses in the Dayton area currently and have had over 3,000 volunteers. This is a great project for Eagle Scouts. There is an age limit of 16 for some work areas. They are working in the Kettering area remodeling some houses. Some original owners who built in 1986 are now paying off their mortgages. When they pay off their mortgages, they can resell their houses.
Next we heard the testimony from Holly Adkins, a recent recipient of a Habitat House in the Trotwood area. She with her family of 4 children moved in their house November 16th. Stillwater UMC took on this build and used CROSSROADS MISSION,
a management team who pre-cuts all items ahead of time, then brings these items to, in this
case, Stillwater UMC parking lot where some 300 members and friends assembled one wall at a time in small groups and by the end of three (3) hours they had assembled the whole house, then it was set up as a framed house in the parking lot and commissioned on the following Sunday morning. Then all parts were placed on a truck and hauled to the lot where the rest of the finishing work had to be done. This project brought the church together in a way never hoped for.
Holly shared what this has meant to her and her family. She was able to move out of housing where she was afraid to let her kids out to play, now they can ride their bikes and play outside without fear.
She also shared how two widows have more less adopted her children and act as Grandma's and baby sit for her whenever needed, how the children are doing much better in school with many new friends. Through the 3 year process, Holly finished her degree, got a job, has received 3 promotions where she works and feels that God is moving in her life and the life of her family.
She wanted to give back to community for all they have done for her, so has received two small foster children, one a baby, the other a 3 year old and shared what a blessing they have been in their family.
President Roth closed the session by sharing his dream that all County UMC churches within the Miami Valley District, maybe working through their clusters, might take on building one of these Habitat houses with their men leading the projects using the CROSSROADS MISSION management team, building the house on one of the county church parking lots. Wouldn't this be wonderful? What a way to serve God!!
Ms. Brigner indicated that volunteers can contact them at volunteer@DaytonHabitat.org or call 937-586-0866-ext-16 to volunteer for current building projects.
This was a very moving presentation. Wish all Men within our MVD United Methodist Churches could have heard it. Maybe this will give you just a glimps of the enthusiasm.
Respectfully Submitted,
John W. Sherer,
Communication Coordinator
MVDUMM
John Fristoe (Newsletter Editor)
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