Fundraising Ideas

We are approximately 100 days away from our Hawaiian Habitat Holiday Experience!


Many GV participants decide to fund raise for part or all of their trip cost, and I highly recommend trying this route.


If you are fund raising, I encourage you take a few minutes to create a fund-raising Web page at www.habitat.org/gv/create.html


What I've done in the past is to send out a heartfelt email letter with the trip cost, emphasizing the fact that any contribution is 100% tax deductible to friends, family, co-workers and beyond. I encourage everyone to this message onto to others they think would like to contribute. You'd be surprised at some of the donations I get from strangers!


It's also a GREAT time to start asking for donations, since most people being getting these requests around the second week in November. Get out there early!


You also want to make it as easy as possible for your donors. Set up a fundraising link on the Habitat website and include the link several times in your email or snail mail flyer.


Make your pitch as meaningful & colorful as possible. Most of the photos off this blog are from Flickr.com. Emillia is going to send me photos as well from Habitat houses which will be helpful.


One of our team members, Todd, sent out a mailing and included an addressed stamped envelope to the Habitat Americus office. This is a great way of making it easy for your potential donors... just don't forget pertinent information like your Team #10035 and your Habitat ID#.


*See my link: GV Member Donation Page  at the bottom of this page, you will see my name, Trip # & Habitat ID #. 


Please let us know how your fund raising is going, what ideas you've come up with and if you need support in any way.


Everyone must have their funds in total by November 15th so that we can prep the build.

Meet the Team!

Rachel Edelman New York, NY

Hello, I'm Rachel Edelman, and I am thrilled to ring in the new century with this Global Village team in Molokai! Last year was my first Habitat build, in Nepal, and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the program. Other locations I've visited in a volunteer or educational capacity include Belize, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Italy and Tahiti.

After graduating from New York University two years ago, I stayed the course in the big city, first working for a children's art museum, then accepting a job as an artist's assistant, managing multi-media archives. Interests of mine include bicycles, photography, amateur cooking and used bookstores.
I can't wait to meet the team & the local family in December, and experience the spirit of aloha!

Dorothy Kennedy Perry County, Ohio
(with granddaughters)
I am the oldest of 8 children (7 girls and 1 boy) born in Perry County (the Appalachian area) in southeastern Ohio.  When I was a teenager the girls’ bedroom was an old school bus.  Our kitchen was a converted chicken house, and the living/dining/master bedroom was an old lumber shed.  My dream was to have a real house to live in.

Summers, during my high school years, my brother and I helped Dad dig and blast a hole in the ground for the basement of the house he was building. During my senior year of high school we moved into the basement of that house and I had warm feet that winter for the first time in years.  We also had a flush toilet with a curtain around it and running water at the kitchen sink, where we took sponge baths. It was wonderful!

I currently live in Perry County, only 15 miles from where I grew up. I have been on 7 previous Habitat builds; Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala 3 times, and twice to Mexico.

I have 2 adopted children, 5 granddaughters and 3 great-grandsons, 2 greats on the way. My (second) husband, Charlie Kennedy, was originally from Scotland; Charlie died in 1996.

I like traveling, flower gardening and backyard birds, playing golf, reading, sewing, and making crocheted rag rugs.

Maxxe Sternbaum New York, NY
(On the left)

My name is Maxxe Sternbaum and I am 23 years old. I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to New York to attend NYU as both an undergraduate and graduate in philosophy. I met Kat on my first HFH trip in Pondicherry and made a subsequent visit to New Orleans working in the Musicians' Village. Ive been lucky enough to spend some time in Guatemala with Common Hope and to study abroad in both Paris and Buenos Aires with NYU. I do looove adventures in culture and language and really appreciate the opportunity to step outside modern society and get back to nature!! I enjoy books, coffee-kona!!/http://www.molokaicoffee.com-, biking, barefoot running/hiking, farmers markets, etc. etc. See you on the island!!

Robert & Diana Kelly  Alpena, Michigan

We live in Alpena Michigan on the shores of Lake Huron. (Alpena is 100 miles south of the Mackinac bridge.)We moved here from Ohio right after we graduated from Albion College in 1962. We have 2 children..a son who is a teacher in Sandusky Mi and a daughter who lives in Germany. We have 2 grandsons( 5 &  8) in Germany and so we visit Germany 2 or 3 times each year.  This past August our daughter and grandsons spent the entire month visiting us. Along with our son we all went camping in the U.P.

Bob is a retired teacher. He taught English at Alpena High School for 20 years and then was switched to Spanish for the next 21 years.  I taught for one year while Bob was finishing his degree and then gave it up to have kids.(It wasn't a sacrifice because it really wasn't my thing.)  I was one of those stay at home moms, did a lot of volunteer work at my church, and around the community.  Along the way I learned to use a computer( before Windows) and got recruited to help Habitat set up its database on their donated computer in 1990 when our affiliate was just getting started. I ended up as their treasurer for the next  7 years and then was exec director until 1999 when we went to live in a small town in Mexico for 6 months on a Fulbright teacher exchange.  1999 was also the year I began going on GV trips..The first 2 trips were to Guatemala. Next was Nepal, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, Romania, Paraguay, Guatemala again, . Then Bob retired and decided he was missing out on all the fun so we went back to Guatemala again and then to Chili, Armenia , Bolivia, Costa Rica,  Argentina,  and Hungary.  This Friday we are headed back to Hungary, this time to work on a Red Cross homeless shelter..a different type of project for Habitat.

Although Habitat is our favorite type of travel, we have also gone on  a bike trip in Europe every year since 1995.  Until Bob retired we had to restrict our travels to summer vacation or Christmas. but now we travel as much as we can. The picture we are including was taken last year when we were on a tour in Bangkok and Vietnam. Our Motto is "do it while we can'.

2010 is a special year for us and we plan to make the most of it.  We will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and we plan to celebrate all year by traveling as much as we can.
We look forward to meeting everyone  in Hawaii for what looks like an exciting build.

Hyeon Yun & Niraj Marfatia New York, NY
Aloha! This is our first Global Village experience. As avid travelers, we signed up for this experience to briefly place our lives in a different perspective, interact with other people from various walks of life, and ultimately better know ourselves. After Molokai, a small group of family and friends will be joining us in Maui for our wedding. Such as it is, this Global Village opportunity gives special meaning in building homes and our relationship.

Hyeon, a native New Yorker, has served in the field of education and human resources for over a decade. She is currently an education administrator, recruiting and training dedicated individuals to become teachers in the NYC public schools.
Niraj, on the other hand, works for a software company focused on the capital markets and financial services industries. He also teaches a database class to graduate students at Touro College. Originally from Philadelphia, he has lived in a variety of places which include Richmond VA, Washington DC, Boston, The Netherlands, Mumbai, and now in New York. He claims to speak French and Dutch, but definitely can speak English :-)

We are both looking forward to meeting all of the interesting people on this trip, and making it a success.Hyeon and Niraj (left and right)

Teri and Rachael Rochioli  Healdsburg, California
Rachael, her mom Teri, her brother Ryan and dad Tom are part of a 4th generation grape-growing family in Northern California. We all play sports, and we love to travel when our schedules allow. We are a very community oriented family and all volunteer on some level year round.

Rachael is a senior in high school and has chosen to work with Habitat for Humanity for her senior year project. She is currently working with the local HFH in Sonoma County which will begin a build in our community in just a few weeks. In addition to this Rachael and her mom, Teri, decided to apply to the Global Village program and pick out a trip to do together. Molokai looked like the right choice and we are really happy be a part of this team!

Todd Roisman  Los Angeles, California
Hello, I'm Todd Roisman. I live in Los Angeles with my wife Kelli and my daughter Amelia. They will both be joining me on this trip but I will be building while they are exploring the island. I have worked with Kat for many years on Disney projects but never for Habitat for Humanity. I have always wanted to join her on one of these great adventures and finally an opportunity arrived. I work for a video editing company in Burbank, CA as a post production supervisor. We make behind the scenes stories for feature films. As much as I love my job, I can't wait to be doing something more meaningful for such a great cause. My family donates to a number of charities each year but it is not the same as actually doing the work and seeing the results first hand. I look forward to meeting all of you and working beside you and the new owners of this house. I love photography, so I hope to document this experience with a photo diary that we can all share.
Brett Erickson Wasilla, AK

I am Brett Erickson, growing up in a small town in Nebraska my family and I moved to Alaska.  At the age of sixteen I saw my first mountain and have been going to the tops evers since.  I enjoy any type of competition or challenge that may come my way.  For the last seven years I have been traveling the states working, mostly commercial construction.  I do as much as i can to help others so when I heard about HFH, I was really excited to get involved.  This is going to be my first build that I am going on and I just can not wait to get there.  I look foward to meeting everyone and having a great experience.

Alex Teitelbaum Manhattan Beach, California

 Hi, I’m Alex from Manhattan Beach, California. I’m a senior in high school and this will be my first experience with Habitat for Humanity/Global Village, though I have traveled before. Last summer I spent a week in Alaska (which is where this picture was taken, with a sled dog), and a few years ago I was lucky enough to spend three weeks in New Zealand and Australia with People to People, a student ambassador organization. My family is from New York so I have spent a lot of time on the East coast. I am a huge fan of sports, my favorite teams being the Lakers, Dodgers, and Raiders. I’ve lived here in Manhattan Beach for my entire life and have never been to Hawaii. I look forward to learning a lot, meeting terrific people and working along side a deserving family while having a great time at our build on Molokai, and wish December would come faster.

Cheyenne Willow Gilman Wasilla, AK

 Namaste,  my name is Cheyenne Willow Gilman. I am 23 years old, born and raised in Alaska. I grew up hiking, camping, boating, snow machining, four wheeling, fishing, traveling and playing almost every sport. I've had all sorts of different jobs from construction work to photography. I most recently just started attending school for holistic nutrition, health is definitely something I absolutely love learning about and utilizing in my everyday life. Besides school I usually spend most of my time either traveling, hiking, snowboarding mountains in the winter, running, working out, playing women's rugby, spending time with my family, writing or attending an occasional Kirtan class. I love life and I guess I just try to suck every moment I can out of it!

I have always been an awful cook which I believe has lead me to eating a diet of raw food :), besides the occasional fresh halibut or salmon my family catches.

Molokai will be my first build and I am more than excited! I think this experience will be absolutely great and I look forward to meeting everyone on the team and especially the locals who we our going to be so lucky to help.

Ron Kubek Victoria, BC, Canada

Hello eh! I am proud to be the only Canadian I think on the trip. I am very familiar with Hawaii having owned a home on Maui however Molokai is only 1 of 2 Hawaiian Islands I have not visited.

I have been involved in a one day Habitat build in Orlando and a week long HFH adventure to Comanesti Romania to work on a cool build there in 2009. I am the proud father of 4 and have 3 grandkids and very blessed to have lots of free time in my life. I regularly travel to Romania for two 2-3 weeks per year with Hope for the Nations Romania. I got my inspiration to actually participate in the work, rather than just write a check, 4 years ago after reading Bob Buford’s book, Half Time, which is about moving from Success to Significance. I am really looking forward to a “warm” build after Romania! It will be cool to be some great folks in a great place doing great work! I am really happy about being near the ocean. For me to be on or in or by the ocean is the only way to go! Look forward to meeting all the great team members.

Caroline Reynods, Amherst, MA

My name is Caroline Reynolds and I'm from Amherst, Massachusetts. I have worked for the last few years with my local Habitat affiliate, building some very cool LEED certified homes for some families here in Amherst. This trip to Molokai will be my first with Habitat International!

Marching off with a degree in English literature, I managed to trip and land into environmental engineering... if nothing else, an English degree will at least prepare you to sweet talk your way into an interesting job. Anyway, while I didn't envision engineering for myself for the long haul, I did realize my fascination for the geological environment and the way humans interact with it - especially when designing our built environment. So here I am, after what feels like a whole lifetime out of school, returning for a second go round, this time for environmental studies (and possibly some architecture down the road!). To support this insanity, I work as a research assistant for an environmental microbiology lab at the University of Massachusetts.

Other things I do to keep me going: running, yoga and meditation (OK, also dancing and listening to live music and playing tennis when I get the chance!). Now I can add "looking forward to this trip" to the list - to see Molokai, be outside, and meet all of you this December!

Tracy Roberson Los Angeles, CA

Hello from Tracy Roberson in Los Angeles – a little late in joining the group but glad I did. Like most of you, for the longest time I’ve wanted to participate in a project like this. I’m excited to meet everyone & to get started!