Habitat

Habitat for Humanity of Washington County's dedication ceremony for a new home in Boonsboro has been rescheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. The ceremony for the house at 47 St. Paul St. was canceled Sunday, Jan. 30, due to concerns about bad weather. Lead sponsor Hagerstown Trust Co. donated $25,000 for the "Banking On Our Communities" house. Other contributers include Waypoint Bank, Citigroup and First National Bank of Greencastle.

HAGERSTOWN -- Lutheran parishioners from across Washington County used a 90-minute service Saturday at the Hagerstown Hotel and Conference Center to raise $683.82 for Habitat for Humanity. About 100 people attended the event, which included music, prayer and a skit that delivered the message of God's love. Pastor Torben Aarsand said the parishioners came up with the idea in October. "What we really wanted to do was open our doors," he said. "It's really fun to see how the people have come together.

ryant@herald-mail.com As volunteers for Habitat for Humanity of Washington County continued work on a controversial duplex on St. Paul Street in Boonsboro Wednesday, people on the streets of the town had mixed reactions about the construction. Of the 41 people asked Wednesday whether Habitat should be allowed to continue building, 15 said yes and 26 said no. Three of those questioned were not from Boonsboro. At the same time, 17 of those who questioned said they support the June 14 ordinance and 20 said they disagreed with the council's decision.

A group of women training for employment in the construction industry participated in a Habitat for Humanity project Wednesday in Hagerstown. Members of the Step-Up for Women program in Martinsburg, W. Va., which  provides training to help women find construction jobs, worked on a rehab project in the garage of a house in Hagerstown's West End. Program instructor Patrick McCoy said that the project was a way for the women to give back....

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Habitat for Humanity of the Eastern Panhandle on Tuesday received the first of two approvals it needs to start work on a 26-lot residential subdivision it hopes to build in Martinsburg. The city's Board of Zoning Appeals granted the nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization a special exception to requirements that an existing storm water management pond be expanded. The Martinsburg Planning Commission at 7 p.m. this evening is expected to hold a public hearing for the organization's request to subdivide 6.83 acres to create 26 single-family lots and associated rights of way off West Race and Boston streets.

Habitat for Humanity of Washington County has built 22 homes since the local chapter was started in 1994. Two more are to be completed by the end of this year - at 46 Berner Ave. and 517 Reynolds Ave., both in the City of Hagerstown. With steep rent and home prices afflicting the county, Habitat Executive Director Sherry Brown Cooper said the organization is needed more than ever. "We do have an affordable housing issue in this county and in the city," Brown Cooper said.

Name: Don Buckley Age: 72 Resides in: Williamsport Occupation, or former occupation if retired: Buckley retired from IBM after working for the company for 33 years. Where do you volunteer and what do you do there?: Buckley volunteers with Habitat for Humanity of Washington County. He works in its Hagerstown office, at 20 S. Prospect St., where he writes checks for employees and vendors. He also helps to build houses, and estimated that since he started volunteering with Habitat in 1992 he has helped to build 18 houses.

Habitat for Humanity of the Eastern Panhandle's Home for the Holidays Campaign is under way. Habitat is seeking volunteers who can help with building a home in order to meet a December deadline. The nonprofit housing ministry is also seeking monetary or supplies donations to help with Habitat's mission. For more information, contact Operations Director Brenda Berry at 304-263-3154  ops.hfhep@gmail.com

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. - Nearly three years after Vivian Thompson began trying to save her childhood home, she learned the best hope for the two-story house in Chambersburg's south end was for her to give it away. On Dec. 11, Thompson, 77, of Falls Church, Va., donated her old home on Main Street to Habitat for Humanity of Franklin County. Thompson's home will be the first house recycled by Habitat of Franklin County, Executive Director Mark Story said. No one is certain how old the house is, but documents show that it survived the burning of Chambersburg in 1864, Thompson said.

BOONSBORO The Boonsboro Town Council on Monday unanimously approved an emergency ordinance prohibiting new homes from fronting alleys, but the town attorney refused to say if the action would stop construction of a Habitat for Humanity of Washington County duplex that faces an alley. The vote followed a public hearing in which more than 20 people spoke on the ordinance, with many of their comments centering on the proposed Habitat duplex that would front onto an alley off St. Paul Street.