Media Coverage

Habitat to hold information meeting to start duplex in Westminster

By Caitlyn Kelleher The Community Journal

September 19, 2008The first step in starting the building process for a Habitat for Humanity duplex in Westminster is coming up this week.

Habitat is hosting an information meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at Town Hall, in room 205, at 7 p.m. The meeting will help develop the committee that will help to steer the project and that will help organize the volunteer effort to build the building.

"This is for general volunteers," said Megan Foley, the executive director for Habitat for Humanity North Central Massachusetts. "It's for anyone that wants to know about it. This is to find people who are interested in doing all of the background work that needs to be done. We're looking for the steering committee."

This groups look at things from planning everything from the homeowners' movein to all kinds of volunteer help.

While the most familiar image of a Habitat volunteer is a carpenter in a hard hat, the first need is for volunteers to do the up-front and behind-the-scenes work, according to Foley. Project volunteers need to include everything from publicity, event coordination, scheduling volunteers, fundraising, database management, marketing, writing, organization, site hosting and first aid.

The Board of Selectmen approved the donation of the land earlier this summer.

Habitat has not developed a time line for the project yet, Foley said. She said parts of that will be determined through the steering committee that is formed.

She said the family selection process for the two units that will be built on an acre of land at 72 Davis Road.

The family selection process will not happen for four or five months down the road, Foley said. In May, Foley said the goal would be to break ground in the fall of 2009.

Habitat for Humanity North Central Massachusetts working building a home on Sherbert Road in Ashburnham.

As the largest non-profit builder in the world, Habitat for Humanity International has completed 250,000 homes worldwide, providing housing for more than one million people.

For information, to schedule a speaker for a group, or to donate, contact the Habitat for Humanity office at (978) 348-2749 or hfhncm@verizon.net.

Habitat for Humanity North Central Massachusetts serves Ashby, Ashburnham, Ayer, Acton, Berlin, Bolton, Boxborough, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Groton, Harvard, Hudson, Lancaster, Leominster, Littleton, Lunenburg, Maynard, Pepperell, Princeton, Shirley, Sterling, Stow, Townsend, and Westminster. The Web site is www. ncmhabitat.org or the office located at 1 Oak Hill Road, Fitchburg.