|
Jordan's Habitat for Humanity Office
As a result of Charles Buell and Sharon Corrigan's last year's meeting in 2006 in Jordan with the head of the Jordan branch of Habitat for Humanity, Building Bridges was happy to host, in the Upper Valley, two workers from that group from July 9-11 this year. Romel Ziadeh and Nancy Feely visited four organizations here, each involved in different approaches to affordable housing, and ended their trip with a presentation on how they have finished 300 housing projects in different parts of Jordan. Appropriately, they started their visit at a housing build site of the Upper Valley's Habitat branch off Route 120 South in Lebanon, and with the new owners' permission, read reasons why the new habitat owners wanted to move from the Armory Square apartments in Windsor, Vermont. They later had dinner with the local Habitat Director, Don Derick, where both groups more fully explored the different housing issues that each organization faced. Later that day, Romel and Nancy also talked with George Emery, a past-president of the Plainfield Village Co-op, and he related how they turned a privately-held trailer park into a self-run cooperative with the help of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. Mr. Emery also detailed how they have successfully managed their park with some minimal help from the Loan Fund. The next day, they talked with Bruce Pacht of the Twin Pines Housing Trust about that organization's past projects and what they plan for the future, particularly the Gile project in Hanover. After the meeting, the Jordanian visitors briefly visited the finished Starlake Village complex in Norwich. Finally, and in a driving rainstorm (!), Romel and Nancy visited with John Chaffee at the Romano Circle project of the Lebanon Housing Authority where they noted the various social services offered to the 30 resident families and viewed plans for a planned expansion of the project. Romel and Nancy then continued their U.S. trip with stops at a North Carolina Habitat affiliate and on to the headquarters in Georgia. Some web sites for reference:
|
