by Sara Lewis
This weekend, the new tiny homes at the New Hope Community will become officially occupied. This community sits below the First Christian Church in Downtown Olympia, providing shelter to folks who were evicted from the 4th Ave Bridge tent settlement. These houses truly do provide a New Hope for the residents who will reside in them.
They also have provided hope and purpose to volunteers from OUUC, especially a few super volunteers: Selden Hall and Bruce Wells. Cheryl, Selden’s wife, has shared that “These efforts give us purpose in our life”. Selden has been active building homes through Habitat for Humanity for more than 30 years. It was social justice, and especially the great need in the local community for action around homelessness, that drew Cheryl and Selden to OUUC.
Another tiny house super volunteer is Bruce Wells, who brings a long background of building homes to our community. Bruce coordinated a church coalition for Habitat for Humanity in Colorado for decades before he moved to Olympia. Once here, he checked out what was happening and was steered toward tiny homes by Rev. Carol McKinley. Now he coordinates and volunteers with FAITH: Faith Alliance Initiative for Tiny Houses.
Bruce and Selden, along with many others, have built a home for the New Hope Community, which will have a cluster for six homes (all built by different faith communities or local builders donating their time) and a community building. Prior to their work on this house, OUUC volunteers constructed a tiny home on the OUUC grounds that was moved to the Hope Village at Westminster Presbyterian.
Would you like to get involved? There will likely be another construction project, perhaps in the spring. But of course, a house isn’t all that’s needed to have a home. There are many ways to support the tiny house communities with meals, donations, and more.
And a huge Thank You to all the many OUUC folks who have done this work together. It’s good to see our faith in action in these ways.
A BIG Thank you to everyone from OUUC who helped:
Selden Hall
Joe Joy
John Tafejian
Todd Flynn
Scott Bishop
David Addicott
Jim Langenfelder
Rick Brandt-Kreutz
John Eliasson
Lane Dorsy
Cheryl Hanks
Judy Kennedy
Janet Dawes
Elizabeth Mooney
Joyce Steckler
Dolores Roy
Thank you all!