Creating safe places, one house at a time

By Geri Corey
GOSHEN — Members of the First Presbyterian Church of Goshen strive to live their faith, and helping others is the essence of their faith. Strengthening their commitment, congregants spent a week in Newburgh this summer working on homes for Habitat for Humanity.
Each year, the Church’s Mission Committee chooses a destination spot for a mission trip. Recent past spots in the US include tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri, in 2012, and New Orleans in 2010 and 2014 doing home repairs after Hurricane Katrina hit. In 2017, a group will be heading to Nicaragua, the church’s mission site abroad.
Realizing local needs, the committee decided to support their neighbors in Newburgh this year. Twenty-six volunteers filled time slots to work on two houses, one at 123 Washington Street and the other at 26 South Miller Street. Another 15 members prepared and served lunches.
“I’m trying to do my small part to help Newburgh rebound from its blight by working to re-establish viable neighborhoods — neighborhoods without violence,” said parishioner Rob Warner. "We want to create a safe place for people to live, one house at a time."
“I’m here because everyone deserves to live in a decent home,” said congregant Michele Meek, carefully filling in the seams of molding framing a window. "It’s such a good feeling to live in your own home, to feel safe and be proud of it. I want others to feel the pride."
After years of living in an old house, Meek said she’s comfortable doing her job.
A young man with an interest in photography qualified for the Washington Street house, which comes with an attached studio on the first floor. He plans to open up the studio to the community as a gallery. He's of Mexican decent; his mother brought him and his siblings to Newburgh to live when they were young. Soon he’ll be living with the family in their new home.
Before taking possession of a Habitat home, qualified homeowners must take courses at Orange County Community College on home maintenance and budgeting. All homeowners are required to work a certain number of hours on their homes during construction before moving in.
“I’m here to help people get a leg up on life,” said the Rev. David Kingsley, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, as he stained the bannister leading to the second floor. “Here’s a studio with living quarters upstairs. It’s exciting to be a part of this, having room for him and his extended family — wife, mother-in-law and an aunt.”
As house captain, Jim Ferguson oversees construction and assigns volunteer jobs at the house under renovation. Working for years to makeover homes in Newburgh, he’s part of the area’s transformation from boarded up homes and factory buildings to being a beautiful neighborhood. Twenty-four homes on East Parmenter Street have been refurbished with families now living in them, Ferguson proudly points out.
“This job is a perfect fit for me," said Ferguson. "I’m back in my community. But it’s not about making myself feel good. It’s about making others’ lives better.”

'They check their egos at the door'

People of all ages from 18 — or age 16 with a parent — and up, and from all walks of life, have volunteered to work, said Ferguson. They include retired teachers, attorneys, West Point cadets, college students, civic groups, and medical staff.
“They all check their egos at the door," Ferguson said.
Wednesday and Saturday are workdays for Habitat volunteers.
Habitat has built 79 homes in Newburgh. PresbyBuild, consisting of 18 Presbyterian churches working in partnership with Habitat Newburgh, will begin its eighth house this fall, said Sue Varden, parishioner and organizer of this trip.
Anne Wood, a church member who also does pastoring at the First Presbyterian Church in Jeffersonville, N.Y., works summers when she has the time. As a regular participant in mission trips, Wood said, “I go wherever they’re working. Work is there to be done — needed to be done. Jesus says, 'Whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.’ That’s good enough for me to be here.”
The congregation holds fundraisers like sandwich sales at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, plant sales, and car washes throughout the year to offset the cost of traveling to various destinations. Every year the Mission Committee organizes and sponsors the Goshen Chili Challenge and donates the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity in Newburgh.
“I began volunteering for Habitat six years ago when I returned from our church’s first mission trip to New Orleans in 2010,” said Varden.
Noting that the Habitat affiliate in Newburgh is considered one of the best-run and most productive in the country, she said: “We all take pride in what it accomplishes and are touched, and changed, when we see these proud, hard-working families move into the homes we have helped them build. In the process many bonds are formed between the volunteers and the partner families.”