Support those who support Habitat!   92.5 The Chief ABC Sanitary Adams Outdoor Advertising Armstrong Lumber Babyland Bacon & Van Buskirk Boltini's Cement Masons & Plasters Local #143 Champaign Do-It-Best Hardware Champaign Estate Sales Champaign Heating & Air Champaign Telephone Company City of Champaign City of Urbana County Market on Kirby Custom Flooring & Acoustics Denver Mattress Dodds Company Dow Chemical eXtra 99.1 Ezell Excavating F & R Roofing Flat Top Grill Flooring Surfaces Fry Access Furniture Lounge Geocon The Great Frame Up HDC Engineering Herriott's Party Rental Home Depot IBEW Local #601 IDSCO Illiana Insulation International Galleries Judah Christian School Kan-Doo Concrete Kurt Crail Inc. Larson Laticrete International Lowe's Lutheran Social Services MX Electric Inc. Maxwell Counters Meijer Menard's Mix 94.5 Nash Crane Service Inc. New Prairie Construction Pages for All Ages Bookstore Patton Lumber Peckham & Associates Pekara Bakery Prairie Productions Prime Time Pizza Prairie Central Materials Prudential Landmark Real Estate Ramada Ltd. RC's Plumbing & HVAC RP Lumber Remco Electric Reynold's Towing St. Patrick's Catholic Church Sherwin Williams Smith/Burgett Architects Springfield Electric Square D Stevens Excavating Storage Options Solutions TSI Specialty Cleaning & Restoration Thrivent Financial for Lutherans UpClose Vaspar Wal-Mart in Urbana Whirlpool Williams Business Interiors Workout 24 WIXY 100.3   Moving? Remodeling? Spring Cleaning? Donate to the ReStore!   Drop off donations are accepted any time during store hours. Please pull up to the southeast garage door and ring bell for assistance. Too large for your vehicle? Schedule a donation pick up! Donation pick ups are a $5 fee in C-U, and $10 outside C-U within a 15 mile radius. Contact us at (217)355-6460 x120 or ReStore@cuhabitat.org to schedule.   Skilled construction leaders needed for Gulf Coast rebuilding   Habitat International is seeking skilled construction leaders to help rebuild homes and lives in the Gulf Coast. Individuals should be able to lead all phases of construction and manage unskilled volunteers. Funds are available to defray expenses for individuals committing to at least one month in the hurricane-impacted area. If you meet the above criteria - even if you can't make a month-long commitment, please contact Mark Van Lue, director, Construction and Environmental Resources, HFHI, at mvanlue@habitat.org or 800-HABITAT, ext. 2139.   ReStore hours   Tuesdays - Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays from 1 - 5 p.m. Coming soon: summer hours starting in June!   Habitat for Humanity Champaign County and ReStore   119 E. University Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 (217) 355-6460 ReStore (217) 359-0507 Administration www.cuhabitat.org   HfH is a member of Community Shares	Brought to you by Champaign Telephone Co.     Vacation Home Raffle through the 30th   At the Working Women's Expo we began our week-long raffle for a 7-day vacation at a private 4 bedroom, 3 bath vacation home in Orlando, Florida. Relax by the pool, head to the hot tub or spend the week at Disney World. Photos here. This beautiful home is moments away from Mickey and Minnie! Our second and third prizes are $100 and $50 gift certificates to the ReStore. Tickets are $5 each or $20 for six. You may purchase them at the ReStore cash register during regular business hours. We'll announce the winners on Tuesday 1 May. Thank you to Homeway Homes for this generous donation.   Treasures at the ReStore   See new items here!   Jakobsson & Frerichs to celebrate with the Sweids tomorrow!   The University of Illinois Habitat for Humanity Student Chapter is concluding the school year by dedicating the home built in partnership with the Sweid family at 925 N. 4th Street, Champaign, IL 61820. The ceremony is planned for Saturday, April 28th, 2007 at 10:00am at the new home. The Sweids have been working with the student volunteers in building their house each weekend. Jenna Hall, a first time volunteer, said, "I really like being able to work side by side with the future homeowner; to see just how much our help is appreciated." Her friend Ashley Soriano, who had previously worked with Habitat in high school as well as with the Student Chapter, agrees that being able to see the immediate effects of service is one of the most rewarding parts of volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. Work on the home began Saturday, September 16, 2006 (photos here). Kurt Erbach, a sophomore at the University, recently helped install the front porch on the home and noted, "it's exciting to see the house all the way through from start to finish. It's almost hard to think that just a few months ago this was nothing but a vacant lot with a hole in the middle of it." The students have logged over 600 volunteer hours from construction occurring primarily on Saturdays. Fundraising began in the fall of 2005, including "canning," tournaments, races and a "shanty town" on the University of Illinois Quad. Freshman Aston Hunt likes getting to put in "a hard day of work with no experience necessary." In fact, the training that the students receive on the build site is one of the most attractive parts of Habitat for Humanity says Margaret Yoo. "It's a great learning experience, useful for my major [Architecture] and future homeownership, too." Saturday's dedication will include recognition of volunteers, certification of the house's electrical system by IBEW Local 601, comments from Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, Sen. Mike Frerichs and other community leaders as well as words from the Sweid family themselves. Please join us!   Let's build! Thrivent & Women Builds   Our Thrivent Builds Homes/Illini Radio Group double-build for the Allen and Dominguez families (507 and 509 E Bradley) begins soon. The groundbreaking is on Saturday, 19 May at 10 a.m. We'll be building each Saturday, 2 June to 8 September. The dedication is on Saturday, 15 September at 10 a.m. The full build schedule, including tasks and needs, is listed here. If you'd like to volunteer as a crew leader, crew member or lunch provider, please contact Ellen Willcox (house@cuhabitat.org or 359-0507 x110). At least half of each crew will come from area Lutheran congregations, the remainder from the community at large. Community united! On Mother's Day, May 13, we will launch our latest Women Build Homes partnership with the Corona family. Women Build is a Habitat for Humanity International program that encourages women and girls to have fun and make a difference by building homes and communities. If you would like to take part in the build as a member of the steering committee, build volunteer, food volunteer or fundraiser, please contact Eileen Gebbie (director@cuhabitat.org, 217-359-0507 x111).   ReStore restores hope   Volunteers consistently let us know that the reason they give of their time and energy to Habitat is because they see the results of the generosity, be it in a finished home or a family finding an affordable necessity in the ReStore. Our home improvement ReStore has daily opportunities for helping, fellowship and fun. There are a few principal types of volunteers needed at the ReStore: + Store Clerk + Cashier + Displays Assistant + Pick up & Delivery Drivers + Photographer + Flyer distribution We do ask for a commitment of at least 1 shift per week for 4 months at the ReStore. Because the ReStore is a business and there is a fair amount of training required, it is best for us to have reliable volunteers who come in on a regular basis. Weekly ReStore orientations are held on Saturday mornings at 9a and Wednesdays at 5:30p. If you'd like to spend a few hours a week helping out in a relaxed and welcoming environment, then contact Courtney Egg (e-mail, 217-355-6460 x116).   New Threats to "The American Dream"   Part Two of a Three-Part Series by Mark Middleton, Finance Manager In our first installment, we discussed the concern that between 1.2 and 2.2 million homeowners could lose their homes in the near future. If you read about this issue in the popular press, the blame is placed solidly on a part of the mortgage market called "sub-prime" mortgages. But they are only a small part of the issue. Economists classify over million homeowners whose homes are now in jeopardy as "middle class." These families are caught in the same triple squeeze as the poor: rising interest rates, rising tax assessments, and rising insurance rates combining to greatly exceed increases in income. Many mortgages in the past few years have moved beyond the conventional fixed rate loan into "adjustable rate mortgages." As interest rates rise, mortgage payments are also "adjusted" upward. Other loans were issued as "principal only" and deferred interest to the future. In this case the homeowner is also "borrowing" the deferred interest and the loan amount compounds on the deferred interest in addition to unpaid principal. These variable rate loans were issued with an intent to make the initial monthly payments "affordable." Within a few years, they are not. Some middle class homeowners have seen their payments suddenly increase by over $1500 per month! Their problems don't end with interest rate woes. Most taxing authorities base real estate taxes on "market valuation." In many communities around the nation, market valuations rose as part of a pricing "bubble" and homeowners were taxed accordingly. However "valuation" is locked into a property until such time as it is sold. In some Cook County communities real estate taxes have moved from $5,000 to $12,000 a year for a relatively modest residence over the space of just half a decade. Middle class incomes have not kept up with that pace and people are being "taxed out" of their own neighborhoods. "The American Dream" of homeownership nets out for many as the "American Nightmare." With rising interest payments, taxes, and insurance, it is not uncommon to see the cost of housing to reach 50% of many families' incomes. Our goal at Habitat for Humanity is to provide simple, decent, and affordable homes where payments, including taxes and insurance, are no more than 30% partner family's gross income. And Habitat's ReStore keeps home maintenance and home improvement affordable for every homeowner or apartment dweller. Community support and generosity make the dream possible.