Habitat to the Max lends a hand




GENE DOWD/Special to The Acorn BUILDING BLOCKS—St. Max parishioners and friends gather on the site of a Habitat for Humanity home they are building. The group is constructing a duplex for two families in Ventura County.

GENE DOWD/Special to The Acorn BUILDING BLOCKS—St. Max parishioners and friends gather on the site of a Habitat for Humanity home they are building. The group is constructing a duplex for two families in Ventura County.


St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church’s Habitat for Humanity Ministry has taken on the challenge of building homes for people working below the poverty level.

The volunteer group, called Habitat to the Max, is building its second home—a duplex—for two families in Ventura County and raising additional funds through its annual dinner dance and auction.

Although tickets have sold out for the March 28 event, raffle tickets are available to win a sevennight Alaskan cruise. The winner needn’t be present to win the vacation for two. Raffle tickets start at $10 for one ticket.

Habitat to the Max Chair Maureen Hamilton, the committee’s founder Tim Schutz and a force of 50 volunteers, including the Rev. Patrick O’Dwyer, pastor, want to raise an additional $40,000 toward the $200,000 needed for the duplex, already under construction in Oxnard.

Schutz was a Habitat volunteer when he launched the church committee in 2003. Initially, the volunteers were only going to supply labor, but within two years enthusiasm for the charity had grown, and they decided to fund and build an entire home. St. Max is the only church in the Los Angeles Diocese to do it all, O’Dwyer said.

He remembers speaking to the daughter of the first person to receive a Habitat home funded and built by the church ministry.

“It’s so nice to have a house,” the girl told the pastor.

“That summed it up,” O’Dwyer said. “It’s not just putting a family in a home, it’s building for a future,” O’Dwyer said. “Kids have a place to do their homework . . . they feel safe . . . they will be able to give back in the future.”

Hamilton said she and other volunteers visited the family who was awarded the first home.

“It was meticulous,” she said. “When they first moved in, there wasn’t a blade of grass. We came back six months later, and the (yard) was blooming.”

Schutz said the story was important because people often mistakenly believe that low-income housing will not be maintained properly. “They are so thankful (to have a home) that they do everything to maintain it,” he said.

Habitat for Humanity homes are built on donated property with volunteer and mandatory “sweat equity” labor, and donations of $100,000 per house, Hamilton said. The charity receives up to 200 applications for each residence. “Sweat equity” labor is provided by those eligible for a Habitat home.

Potential homeowners must live in the United States legally, are required to have a job and earn between 25 and 50 percent of the median income for the area. If the family eventually sells the home, funds return to Habitat for Humanity, but Schutz said he has never known of anybody selling the house.

“It’s not a real estate investment; it’s a home,” he said. Hamilton said the committee’s goal is to sell $10,000 worth of raffle tickets.

For tickets, contact Habitat for Humanity at (805) 485-6065 or visit www.habitattothemax.org.

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