Tonight at Cook Memorial Library Habitat honors volunteers

Grande Ronde Valley Habitat for Humanity, Inc. is having a recognition event to thank its many board members and volunteers.

The event will be from 7 to 9 tonight in the community room at Cook Memorial Library. Refreshments will be served.

Habitat has a new office address and phone number, but the mailing address is still P.O. Box 111, La Grande 97850.

We are now located at 2306 R Av. (behind McDonald’s and Wendy’s) in La Grande. Our new office number is 541-963-4794.

For those of you who may not know, we opened a Habitat ReStore, which is a retail outlet for donated building materials and furniture. The proceeds are used to help build more affordable housing. To drop off donations of usable building materials or furniture, call ReStore.

On the housing front, Habitat for Humanity just completed its sixth home. It was done in partnership with the Mat and Kasey Hall family. We also had our first Habitat House fire in Oregon in Elgin and we are working with the Leonard family to rebuild. So you can see that our hands have been full and to add to this, we are looking for a building site in Union right now. We are hoping also to build an ADA home for a family with physical disabilities.

If by chance there is a developer or an individual out there who has land that they could donate for the good of the cause, they can receive a tax deduction for their efforts, as we are a not-for profit organization. We find that the acquisition of building sites is our biggest challenge as we move forward.

Your talents and continuing financial support are what keep Habitat for Humanity going. We are in particular need of someone who can donate their website development and maintenance skills. We envision this website to be somewhat complex and interactive as it will serve as a major organizing tool for our volunteers and supporters. So in addition to development we will need ongoing maintenance. If you wish to explore this request in more detail please call George Kraus at 541-805-8565. Our e-mail address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Watch for our website at www.unioncounty-habitat.org

As you consider the many ways that you might give back to your community, please consider that Habitat is an all-volunteer organization that invests in local families and partners with churches and other organizations to provide clean, decent homes right here in our communities. If you want to buy a window or furnish the building materials for a room that would be a great help. If you have time to volunteer at our ReStore outlet we can use the help. There is no end to the possibilities.

So to find out more about how you can get involved and meet our board members and volunteers please drop by the library Tuesday evening and bring your questions and say “hi.” We look forward to seeing you.

David Still of Cove is a member of the board of Grande Ronde Valley Habitat for Humanity.