Christ Church is a charter member of Habitat Grosse Pointe Partners, a group of churches in Grosse Pointe which has been raising money and volunteerism for Habitat for Humanity Detroit for over ten years.

Habitat Detroit builds affordable housing for those families otherwise excluded from home ownership due to the vagaries of the lending process, their limited access to the dwindling pool of affordable housing stock, or other circumstances of their individual economic situation.

Habitat provides no-interest mortgages for each family to acquire their new home, and then trains the new homeowner to sustain their financial and home maintenance responsibilities. Each homeowner must perform a set quota of "sweat equity" hours towards building their home or on other Habitat projects.

Habitat aims to sustain the homebuilding process by feeding principal from homeowner mortgages, funds raised by contributor organizations like Habitat Grosse Pointe Partners, and profits from its ReStore construction supply warehouse into further homebuilding operations.

Habitat Detroit also contributes time, effort, and funds to the broader Habitat International parent organization and regional affiliates, including events like the Jimmy Carter Work Project in 2005 and the SuperBUILD house-in-a-box project for Hurricane Katrina victims the week of the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit.

In 2006 Habitat Detroit started to focus on rebuilding the east side Detroit neighborhood near Mack and Alter, including new houses co-sponsored by Habitat Grosse Pointe Partners being built on Maryland Street. This worksite is approximately three miles from Christ Church.

Habitat provides ample opportunities for volunteers to help with regular Second Saturday build projects and many ad hoc projects. The job foreman teaches the skills needed (and that is appropriate for each person) for any project you work on. Each new project is a learning experience.

You strengthen friendships with the crew and the new homeowner as you erect a house from the ground up. When the house is built, the homeowner family receives the keys to the home, a toolbox, and a Bible, known by Habitat regulars as the tools for living and the tools for life.

We encourage you to participate in Habitat Grosse Pointe Partners projects.

Contact Helen Santiz or Matt Schuetze, or visit www.habitatgppartners.org for details.