CONTACT:  ELIZABETH TERESHKO
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TEL. 603-883-0295
EMAIL: office@nashuahabitat.org

Read about our recent move in the Nashua Telegraph by clicking here.

Nashua – Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity (GNHFH) has relocated. After many years at 63 Temple Street, the non-profit organization has moved to 92 Main Street in downtown Nashua.

Over the last two years GNHFH has grown significantly. In addition to hiring its first staff-member in recent weeks, (a Director of Resource Development), the Board of Directors has added new members and many of the organization’s committees have flourished with new leaders and volunteers. This has added to the organization’s ability to continue building affordable housing and to launch efforts in the revitalization of homes and neighborhoods.

GNHFH is about to complete a home in Wilton and will begin a new project in Hudson immediately after that. Plans are in place to build homes for two more families, guaranteeing large projects through at least 2013.

GNHFH President Ed Lopez credits fellow Board member and Office Manager Nora Boyle with much of this successful transition: “Nora has helped elevate our presence in the community by assembling a strong office team and helping us move to a location where we’re more visible and more accessible to the community. As neighbors of Renaissance Downtown Nashua, Great American Downtown, and so many other great organizations that are working hard to improve Greater Nashua we feel this puts us in a better place to engage in dialog and partner in efforts to improve Nashua and its surrounding communities. We feel our move also reflects the tremendous growth our organization has transitioned through over the last two years. We do remain grateful to Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Nashua for providing our previous office space – which was a critical part of our ability to provide a professional environment for our volunteers to thrive in.”

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.  Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Elizabeth Tereshko at 603-883-0295. For further publicity information email the Public Relations Committee at pr@nashuahabitat.org.

Want quick and brief updates on what we’re up to and where we might need a hand? Join us on Twitter:

www.twitter.com/NashuaHabitat

David Rubel, author of “If I Had A Hammer” will be signing books at Toadstool bookstore in Milford, New Hampshire. For directions and to read more about the event click here.

“This is an inspiring book, telling how ideas starting on a little farm in Georgia have grown to a worldwide movement bringing people together. How? Read it.” 
— Pete Seeger

“If I Had a Hammer is a remarkable tale about an even more remarkable movement. The book chronicles how hope can be transformative for families and volunteers alike. For both young and old, the saga of Habitat for Humanity is a story for the ages—past, present and future.” 
— Nicolas P. Retsinas
Joint Center for Housing Studies
Harvard University

If I Had a Hammer
Building Homes and Hope with Habitat for Humanity
By David Rubel
with an introduction by Jimmy Carter

Publisher’s Description
In West Virginia, a thirteen-year-old girl now invites friends home without embarrassment. In a Brazilian village, children no longer sleep beneath a table when the heavy rains come. For a quarter-century in over ninety countries, Habitat for Humanity has built homes with and for the people who need them, aided by more than a million multigenerational volunteers—two of the most devoted of whom are former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

Now this captivating account, abundantly illustrated with photos from around the world, relays some favorite Habitat stories with special resonance for young readers. Exploring everything from creative home design (like using window bars in India to keep out monkeys) to the emotional rewards of helping to build a house from the ground up, this is an essential resource for inspiring future youth volunteers.

To read more about the author, please visit his website here.

 Guest Commentary in The Telegraph, Nashua, New Hampshire

“Organizations like Habitat for Humanity are fully invested in helping people become homeowners and in partnering with the city and other nonprofits in revitalization efforts. These are the type of efforts that will increase the pool of residents who are firmly invested in working toward executable goals over the next 10 years and beyond.”

Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity President Ed Lopez.

A commendable effort to create a 10-year blueprint for the city of Nashua with input from its residents began last March. One objective was to ensure executed decisions rather than ideas embedded permanently in discussion if not altogether forgotten.

Success requires these goals to be re-evaluated on a regular basis over the next 10 years, and it behooves the city’s leaders to encourage residents, the private sector and nonprofit organizations to work collectively toward them.

One goal Nashua should focus on is becoming a “destination city.” This idea might be met with some reluctance, yet in some ways the city has already moved in that direction, only to a limited extent. That extent is not comprehensive enough to nurture resilience through economic fluctuations.

Many New England residents will shop in Nashua but are not anchoring their travel into our city on anything else. For example:

• An arts district could be a potential draw.
• Increased promotion of our parks could help stimulate tourism and revenue. Few people realize Mine Falls Park is nearly the size of Hyde Park in London. A plethora of outdoor enthusiasts would travel to visit our parks more regularly if properly promoted.
• The growth of Nashua’s higher-education institutions should be encouraged, including efforts to draw more out-of-state students to the area and nurturing a low-tax and low-regulation environment that allows more diverse shops and restaurants to flourish around these institutions. The continued growth of an academic community in Nashua would result in an increase of academic and intellectual activity and capital for our city.

These ideas could all contribute to positive changes in the next 10 years, particularly as residents from neighboring states visit Nashua for more than its retail stores. Improved pedestrian areas to manage the influx of residents and visitors would require investment in parking and park-and-ride facilities and, of course, commuter rail – there’s no question any goals we set for the next 10 years will require investment.

Improving the city’s presentation inside and out is paramount as well. One example: Our city’s website (www.gonashua.com) is practical, updated and informative, but adding emphasis to things that could attract tourism dollars might help as much as improving key areas in Nashua itself, particularly downtown.

Downtown Nashua’s French Hill and Tree Streets areas were mentioned repeatedly during Vision 2020 discussions.

The Tree Streets could improve with the creation of business incubators. The Millyard and Mine Falls Park intersection deserves maintenance; the running trail that should loop from the Ledge Street side to the Spine Road side of Mine Falls Park deserves attention as it amounts to a parking lot connecting the two.

Many restaurants and shops could attract visitors to that corner if the area were made attractive enough to become a downtown gateway to the park.

In the French Hill area, revitalization of Canal Street is crucial. Making the small, culinarily diverse restaurants that have flourished along that road more accessible and visually appealing could have a positive impact on the neighborhood.

Improving park maintenance in the vicinity and supporting efforts to expand historical preservation work into the neighborhood (St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church deserves decisive attention) will make a difference. Although these are not new ideas, a commitment to execution can materialize these aspirations.

Ultimately, both neighborhoods would benefit from an increased sense of ownership among its residents. A pair of studies by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University highlights the importance of home ownership. The studies show that homeowners are more active in civic efforts and more invested in long-term goals – a critical consideration if we are to think in 10-year blocks.

Organizations like Habitat for Humanity are fully invested in helping people become homeowners and in partnering with the city and other nonprofits in revitalization efforts. These are the type of efforts that will increase the pool of residents who are firmly invested in working toward executable goals over the next 10 years and beyond.

The fact that such organizations make self-sufficiency their greatest resource can help assuage concerns over how to pay for the goals we set as residents. Even if self-reliance and ownership are challenges in their own realms, we need to have a vision and a set of milestones to aspire to.

We cannot afford to succumb to inertia because we feel threatened by the need to find resources to materialize these ideas. The wisest among our most fiscally conservative leaders know this. Ultimately, the city will need to turn to its nonprofits and the private sector for the greatest potential solutions.

It will soon be six months since residents gathered in several locations to discuss new goals. It might be time to organize a coalition of entities and citizens who will not give up on seeing many of our aspirations materialize by 2020.

Eduardo J. Lopez-Reyes is president of the board of directors of Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity in Nashua.

You can read about the Nashua Stroll and our Bake Sale, including details of time and location at the Nashua Telegraph website by clicking here.

Directions from Everett Turnpike Exit 7 (Amherst Street exit) to the mission –

1. Start out going SOUTHEAST on US-3/ NH-101A/ AMHERST ST toward US-3 S/ HENRI A BURQUE DR. Continue to follow NH-101A/ AMHERST ST. 1.6 mi to
2. Turn RIGHT onto MAIN ST/ DANIEL WEBSTER HWY. 0.2 mi to
3. Turn RIGHT onto WATER ST. 0.2 mi to
4. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto FACTORY ST. <0.1 mi to
5. Turn LEFT onto CHESTNUT ST. 0.2 mi to
6. End at 40 CHESTNUT ST (2nd building on LEFT). Parking on street, and behind building

See as many of you as can make it, starting around 9:00 AM.

Completed since last Saturday:

• 40 Chestnut Street, Nashua (Southern NH Rescue Mission) – Hung drywall in 2nd of two restrooms, and applied 1st coat of mud. Hung drywall on beam supports in main dorm area. Started hanging drywall on ceiling of adjacent hallway.
• 7-1/2 Ridge Street, Nashua – Picked up sewer user’s permit.

Upcoming events:

• Building permits and temporary power, Milford lot.
• Foundation permit, 7-1/2 Ridge Street, Nashua.
• Burn brush at Tonella Road, Milford – after 1st snow.
• Spring excavation / foundation support for Tonella Road, Milford – seeking donations / deals.
• Other small projects being coordinated.

eric

Cell: 620-4182

You can access it at GNHFH Affiliate News – Fall 2009.

- Working with the US Post Office on our Bulk Mail Account (keeping track of balances and filling out a form when a mailing takes place).

- Picking up the newsletter at the printer.

- Folding, stuffing, and sealing our newsletter.

- Sorting the newsletter into two groups before mailing it.

- Requesting volunteers (through an email list our organization will provide) to help assemble the newsletter mailing.

This work takes place four times a year.  All of the work mentioned above can be done in one day; it is generally more comfortably spread over three days: 1) a day to pick up the newsletter from the printer, 2) a day to fold the newsletters and stuff them, 3) a day to visit the postal office for mailing.

We’re looking for a volunteer willing to learn the process with supervision during two mailings and who can take the leadership role after those two times.  You will have ample support in this role: newsletter work attracts a good amount of volunteers.

If you’re interested: email the Public Relations Committee at pr@nashabitat.org.

Here is what we still need help with:

1. Print/post the Habitat for Humanity Community Fun Day Flyer. Download it. You can also email friends & family about the event.
2. Join us for the final meeting for planning the event is next Tuesday at 6:30pm at the Habitat office – always room for more.
3. Drop by and get a Volunteer Assignment for the day of the event next Weds at 6:30pm at the Habitat office. We will be assigning jobs and timeslots at this meeting. If you can’t attend, but still want to help. Email FunDay@nashabitat.org and request a volunteer slot.
4. Bake some goodies to sell at the Bake Sale to be held at the event.
5. Drop by before or during the event and see if you can help out.
6. Lastly, just come to the event, enjoy the free entertainment with your whole family. And perhaps…

• Play the games, win a prize
• Join in a race/competition
• Purchase treats at the bake sale
• Jump around in the Bounce House!
• Learn more about Habitat for Humanity & other community organizations
• Win a prize in one of the raffles
• Try to dunk someone in the Dunk Tank (Sponsored by Peters Auto Center)

Thanks for making this event a great success!

-Jerry