Oh Happy Day: Youth United Home Dedicated!

Why are these fine people smiling? Because Sunday, December 16 was a joyful day for Robdu (Lome) Adam and her family. The Youth United home dedication was attended by so many people in the community who have helped the family since they came to the United States in 1999 including members of her church, Lower Deer Creek Mennonite in Kalona, her former teachers, coaches and classmates, members of the University of Iowa Habitat Chapter, Ann De Waters from Habitat International, members of the university community, corporate sponsors and friends.

Please click here to see more photos of this happy occasion.

Many thanks to all in the community who have helped the Adam family and who have supported Habitat to make "Home for the Holidays" a dream come true.

1440 Interact Students help finish the build on December 8

Members of the 1440 Interact Club worked on Saturday, December 8 to help finish the Youth United home which will be dedicated on Sunday, December 16 a 2 p.m. To see more pics, click here to go to the online account.

3rd Annual Spaghetti Dinner a UI Habitat Chapter Success

The UI Chapter held their 2nd Annual All You Can Eat Spaghetti Dinner to raise funds for the next Youth United Build. Despite the freezing rain, the turnout was good and we were happy to be joined by residents of the homeless shelter who came with tickets purchased by others. For more photos, click here.

Save the Date: Dedication Set for Dec 16

Save the date!

The youth United home will be dedicated on December 16, 2007 at 2 p.m. Watch for further details.

Youth United, Katherine Valde in the news

The Cedar Rapids Gazette published an article on the front page of the Community News section on Nov 4. The article highlighted Katherine Valde's achievements, focusing on her work with Habitat for Humanity.

Click here to download a copy of the entire article.

Youth United Awarded a $10,000 Matching Grant from State Farm Insurance

Friday October 7 was not a typical day on the job site. Representatives from State Farm Insurance presented a check in the amount of $10,000 to our Youth United program to help construct the home on St. Anne's. Chad Olson (3rd from left in the front row) represented Youth United. Local and regional representatives from State Farm joined in the celebration.

Participants also included (left to right, back row) Chris Swanson (IVHFH Americorps staff), Dana Englebert (Iowa City Chamber of Commerce), Bob Elliott (City Council member), Mark Patton (IVHFH Executive Director) and the senior State Farm regional director.

Looking on in the background is another group of young people who have been key to this build. They are students at Kirkwood Community College in Barry Kucera's Construction Technology program and led the framing activities.

More photos? Click here for our online photo gallery.

Week 2: walls going up

With the good weather we've been having this fall, progress on the home is moving rapidly along. Some of the walls are up. Students from Barry Kucera's construction technology class at Kirkwood are working under his supervision, accounting for much of the progress. Click to see more pictures in the gallery online.