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EnCana frames Habitat house

On the morning of July 16th, Habitat for Humanity and EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.’s Wind River Basin team, started work building the 13th Habitat house in Fremont County.

Headed by John Schmidt, Wind River Basin operations field leader, eight EnCana employees worked with other volunteers to frame the house, located at 115 South Pine Street in Shoshoni.  The home is being built for single mother, Maggie Barajas and her two young children, Anjelita and Ernesto.

“EnCana volunteers showed up early in the morning with tools, and all the motivation needed to accomplish the day’s scheduled production,” said Erin Shirley, executive director. “The concrete slab was poured the week before and our goal was to frame the entire house.”

Preplanned and packaged wall units were engineered and assembled by Habitat volunteers. Vernon David of David Construction, once again, donated services to Habitat for the placement of the trusses.

The EnCana work crew assembled the panels and nailed them in place. “Spending the day working on Maggie’s house was such a moving and rewarding experience,” said Schmidt. “Habitat for Humanity is a powerful way to make a positive difference in improving our community and making housing affordable in Fremont County. We’re very proud to help Maggie build a safe home for her family.”

“Temperatures that day were estimated near 100 degrees, but activity never slowed down,” informed Shirley. “By 4:20 p.m., all trusses had been set in place and sheeting was being done on the exterior walls. The EnCana crew stayed until 6:15 p.m. to make sure the production goal was accomplished. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

This Habitat home represents the third partnership with EnCana’s Riverton team. For the past three years, EnCana has granted $114,500 to the local affiliate to build homes in Riverton, Pavillion, and now, Shoshoni.

Habitat for Humanity has had an affiliate in Fremont County since 1997. Habitat builds homes for low-income families and finances the sale of those homes at zero percent interest. Habitat for Humanity is an International Christian Housing Ministry founded in 1976 in Americus, Georgia. Since then, Habitat has built more than 300,000 homes worldwide.

For more information about our program our volunteering on our jobsite, please call the Riverton office at 307-857-2997.

Habitat for Humanity and Riverton Recycles Team Up for Quilt Rally

Erin Bates Shirley, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, and Kathi Miller, local fiber artist, delivered 17 handmade quilts and coverlets to Wind River Oncology located at 1035 Rose Lane in Riverton on August 11. The donations were a product of the first-ever Habitat for Humanity/Riverton Recycles “Comforts of Home” Quilt Rally.

The Rally, originally suggested by Joni Burrell, a volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s “Look Good, Feel Better” program, which provides hair and makeup support to ladies going though chemotherapy treatment, as a good community support wintertime activity. Guidelines for the Rally required that all materials for quilt tops be made of recycled, machine washable fabrics. This guideline was designed to encourage people to view previously used fabrics as a valuable resource.  Anywhere from five to eight tons are needlessly thrown in the landfill  monthly. The Rally started February 1 with a deadline for delivery to the Habitat ReStore of June 1. Rally items were displayed at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, located at 305 E. Main in Riverton until August 1.

City of Riverton Director of Public Services official and member of Riverton Recycles, Bill Urbigkit said in support of the Rally “This project is an example of innovative thinking as we confront our solid waste disposal issues in the years to come”.

Wind River Oncology celebrated its first anniversary of providing chemotherapy and cancer treatments to Fremont County and surrounding communities in July. Medical director, Dr. Keith Mills, has been treating cancer and blood diseases for more than 25 years, and the cancer center is the only facility in Fremont County to provide chemotherapy treatments and infusions five days a week.

Riverton Recycles is an organization of local concerned citizens, working under the umbrella of the City of Riverton. Recycling of every kind is encouraged by the organization in association with both private individuals and businesses in Fremont County. Recent changes for landfill use in Fremont County has increased the interest and need for more recycling options in all Fremont County communities. Alternate textile use is just one aspect of those recyclable materials. Kathi Miller, local fiber artist won the 2008 Fremont County Solid Waste Disposal District’s “Recycler of the Year” award for her work with recycled textiles.

Habitat for Humanity is an International Christian Housing Ministry with an affiliate serving Fremont County since April of 1997 in building homes for low-income families and financing at zero percent interest. The current Habitat home is being built in Shoshoni, with the 2010 project scheduled for Lander, Wyoming.

Both Kathi Miller and Erin Shirley are members of Riverton Recycles.

Next year’s Rally will start up again this winter. For more information about the upcoming rally and guidelines, please call Erin at the Habitat for Humanity office 857-2997 or watch for our fliers announcing the Rally as winter approaches.