Thrivent Builds/Local Churchs Partner with Topeka Habitat 

View the online photo album from this project.

Volunteers - 1400 VanBurenTopeka Habitat partnered with Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity along with area Lutheran churches for 2008 to build a new house at 1400 SW VanBuren. The project was a first for Topeka Habitat working with Thrivent Builds, who sponsors Habitat building projects in Kansas and Missouri. Both organizations have agreed to partner again in 2009 to build another Habitat home.


Aside from the project planning, the first activity took place in the parking lot of Northland Christian Church in North Topeka. Through a partnership they had with Crossroads Missions, their youth group constructed the exterior and interior walls for the Habitat House on a cold and blustery Saturday morning on April 12th, 2008. All of the walls were built by the church volunteers and directed by Crossroads Missions coordinators. Upon completion, the walls were assembled in the parking lot for the Northland Christian Church congregation to view on Sunday. In the afternoon, the walls were taken down, loaded in a van and delivered to the Habitat building site for assembly at a later date. The cost of the materials as well as an additional contribution toward the roof trusses were provided through donations from Northland Christian Church members.


1400 SW VanBurenThe Thrivent Builds program provides complete funding for the Habitat home through a matching grant with 65% provided by Thrivent, 25% by Topeka Habitat and 10% from area Lutheran churches, who met their match through several fundraising events. The Lutheran churches also committed to providing at least 50% of the volunteers throughout the project. The churches who participated in this project included:


• Christ Lutheran
• Faith Lutheran
• First Lutheran
• Our Saviors Lutheran
• St. John's Lutheran
• Trinity Lutheran

The project was a huge success, with tremendous support from the Lutheran churches as well as other Habitat volunteers. In all, there were over 150 volunteers who logged 1,670 hours in building the Habitat home with over 65% of the hours filled by Lutheran volunteers. Included in those hours were the sweat equity time by the new home owners, Steve Patterson and Emily Kriepe. All of the volunteers showed up each work day eager to go to work and went home satisfied in accomplishing a good day's effort. The Lutheran church volunteers also made sure the workers were well fed by preparing delicious meals, and always included tasty desserts.


Homeowner 1400 VanBurenThe house was completed in November with scheduled work events most Saturdays throughout the year. Steve, Emily and their two sons, Johnny and Thomas were most anxious to move into their new home. The dedication was held on Sunday, October 26th on a cold blustery day, similar to the way the project started and you could feel the excitement in the two young boys as they claimed the house as their home.


Topeka Habitat would like to extend a special thank you to Thrivent Builds with Habitat for their contribution and valuable assistance and to the many hard-working Lutheran volunteers and committee members who ensured this project would be a great success as well as a rewarding partnership. We truly enjoyed working with these volunteers and are looking forward to another great project in 2009.