RV Care-A-Vanners Updates

October 2023

Hello fellow Care-A-Vanners,

I want to share a wonderful story from a new CAV, Vince Di Mauro:

I was asked to relay my experience with my first Care-A-Vanner build. Without getting too heavy into my situation, I thought I would give it a try.

Louise, my wife of 58 years, went to heaven several months ago. My family and friends all tell me to give it time and keep busy. Well, my head still isn't on straight, but I have found out with the help of Habitat I am doing okay. I am involved with other things, but Habitat has become the main one.

When I learned about the Care-A-Vanner program and since I have an RV, I was interested. When you are in a situation like mine, days and nights can be very lonely. My kids keep telling me to keep busy, so this is where Habitat comes in. I was fortunate to get a build in Delaware, not too far from home. There were only a few of us but I could not have been working with a better gang.

Wendy was a big help in introducing me to Care-A-Vanning and how it works. Bill, our project manager, is a great and very knowledgeable guy. I learned a lot from him. His best feature for me was he did not push when we introduced ourselves. I could not talk much about my situation, and he graciously understood. Working with Habitat makes time go quicker because as I said, every now and then it gets very lonely. I've been told it’s called "good days and bad days."

Cherry and her husband Ted were great to paint with and we did plenty of painting. We even managed to get some of the paint on the walls — glad we had plenty of water and rags to clean up with. Only kidding, you can't help getting some paint on yourself when working in a closet. The two of them reminded me of my wife and I because we always worked well together. She would have enjoyed Care-A-Vanning had we known about it.

Alex, the volunteer coordinator, was a young guy with a lot of responsibility. One day I was cleaning up outside and he came over to say hi. Emotionally, I was having a bad day — remember, "good days and bad days.” At times when the sky is clear blue and there are puffy clouds around, I think of Louise and I get a funny feeling, a hollow, lonely feeling. Alex must have noticed something was up and was kind enough to ask me questions and get me out of that mood that was taking over. He told me he also had recently lost a family member and that writing a journal helped him. Writing about my experiences here is like a journal and did help.

Before we left the build, Bill said we accomplished a lot. That made us all feel good.

My first experience with Habitat Care-A-Vanners could not have been better thanks to everybody. They were strangers, but somehow they felt like family. If I was asked “What word would best describe Care-A-Vanners,” I would have to say CAMARADERIE.

Vince Di Mauro

Thank you, Vince, for sharing your reflections. I expect we will be running into Vince at a build or two.

Mary Vandeveld
RV Care-A-Vanner Program Manager
mvandeveld@habitat.org
On Facebook

Announcements

Hanging up the keys: John and Sassa Lenton have hung up those RV keys. They did nine builds and team led one. Mostly what John will be remembered for is his contribution to the Habitat Construction Safety Program. He led some trainings at the 30th Anniversary Celebrations and worked with Ken Krueger on teaching materials. Good luck to John and Sassa in the next phase of their retirement.

Incident reports: It is important that the team leaders fill out an incident report on anyone who has an injury. It is also important to document “close calls.” We take these reports and review them from a safety standpoint looking for ways to improve safety on our build sites. We are using a new incident report form; it is in the new team leader packet, or you can contact Ken Krueger or Mary for the new form.

Surveys: Just a reminder that we do read every survey and respond when appropriate. We appreciate your comments, suggestions and even constructive criticism. We also encourage you to sign your surveys so we can respond to you individually. If you have an issue that you do not want to put on your survey, drop me a note at mvandeveld@habitat.org. We want to make sure we address all of your concerns and hear your suggestions.

Please note the RV Care-A-Vanner Travel with a Purpose PowerPoint presentation has been updated: If any of you are doing a presentation and would like a PowerPoint about Habitat for Humanity and the RV Care-A-Vanner program, you can download the latest version of RV CAV: Travel with a Purpose from my Dropbox. Be sure to let me know how your presentation went and how much time you spent preparing and giving your presentation as they can be counted as volunteer hours for the Care-A-Vanner program.

RV CAV promo video: You can download a copy from my Dropbox and share it with all your RV friends. It is also on our website.

Rides to work: We recognize that not everyone tows a vehicle, and we would like to accommodate you on builds. However, if you do not have a means to get to the job site, please check with your team leader prior to the build to be sure there is someone you can ride with. Do not assume there is room in someone’s backseat for you. It may be full of tools!

No smoking: Just a reminder that all Habitat job sites are smoke-free.

Care-A-Vanner nametags: We have found two sources for nametags. Below is the contact info for both. If you are looking for nametags, you will have to contact one of these vendors for more details.

• Sandy Henry Precision Design
  simplifysandy@aol.com
  (574) 699-7867
  U.S. Post mailing address.
  Payment through Pay Pal.
  Badges are $10 each. Total with S&H will usually be $13.
  
• Best Badges Plusn
  John & Barbara Trent
  770-380-3787
  bestbadgesplus@gmail.com

How to get access to MyHabitat:

MyHabitat is the online portal for information that is directly related to our role as volunteers supporting the Habitat mission.

The Knowledge Center is a collection of information and resources that will help you learn more about the new Construction Policy and Standards, House Design Criteria, Mission Aligned Design and Aging in Place Initiative. The My BuildSite section has documentation and training to help us Build Safe, Build More and Build Better.

The Disaster Risk Reduction and Response, or DR3, area provides background on how our Disaster Rebuild Team volunteers support the recovery process. You will be able to sign up for the U.S. Construction and Disaster Services monthly newsletters.

Yammer groups allow you to connect, discuss and share ideas and examples with other people involved in the Habitat mission. Eventually we hope to have RV Care-A-Vanner-specific training available on the site.

We encourage you to request MyHabitat access, then register for the upcoming orientation session on how to access and navigate around the MyHabitat portal.

To request access, contact Darlene Laird.

Pets: For the safety of volunteers and animals, pets (including service animals) are not permitted on the work site. They are welcome to travel along to your campsite, provided you follow the campground rules. If preapproved by the affiliate, dogs may come to the build but are not allowed on an active jobsite. Owners are reminded to be considerate of others on the team and to take responsibility for the care, cleanup and noise maintenance that pets may require. If this issue is a concern, please contact the CAV desk prior to arriving at the build for further information.

Welcome new Care-A-Vanners

Gary and Linda Bell, Philippe Brais and Daniela Venezia, Blake Burke, Fred Burke, Cathi Consolo, Vince Di Mauro, Cynthia and Wally Guthrie, Terry Helstrom, Pierre and Monique Heymann, Louis and Margaret Iverson, Savanna Jamerson and Nancy Oconnor, Susan Lewis, Karen and Tom Marvinac, Ron and Jackie Merrifield, Bill and Cindy Miller, Kendra Phillips, Mike Roy, Stephanie Ruth-Strange, Angela Stoltz, Monica Vanderborght.

Safety corner

Team leader corner

Hello team leaders and team-leaders-to-be!

Fall is coming, the leaves are turning and snow is tickling the mountain tops. It’s about time for all us snowbirds to point our rigs south and sign up for some builds in warmer climates.

A very special thank you for our September team leaders:

• Bruce Kessler
• Jon & Greta Boyer
• Larry & Mem Halstead
• Jim & Barbara Walker
• Jake Newell

Thank-you cards: Occasionally you’ll find that the affiliate you’re building with has arranged for the occasional meal, provides T-shirts or even free camping. This, although certainly not expected, is such a blessing when they do, so we want to be sure and send the provider a personal thank-you card. These can either be filled out by you as team leader, or I like to pass them around for the team to add their own personal thank-you note and signature. We have some Habitat thank-you cards that I can send you. Just email me at rdraves@habitat.org and let me know where to mail them.

Rosters: Please, if you are monitoring the number of openings listed on the website for your build, wait at least two days before requesting a new roster. It sometimes takes a couple of days for the registration to make its way through the “pipeline” and appear on the roster. You will automatically receive an updated roster when it is available.

Cancellations: If someone on your team cancels, PLEASE remind them to cancel their registration with the RV CAV Desk. In addition, it would be helpful for you to pass along that information to me. The sooner we make that space available on the website or to someone on the waitlist, the more likely we are to fill that spot.

Surveys: Please be sure to encourage your team members to complete the survey sent electronically toward the end of the build. These can accidentally get sent to their spam folder so have them check there if they haven’t received it yet. Also, as Team Leaders, it is very important for you to complete one, as well.

God bless you and happy hammering!

Roxanne Draves
Team Leader Coordinator
rdraves@habitat.org

Disaster response

Every season brings its own set of possible weather related disasters and this fall is no exception. All we can do is be ready to help! If there is a DR in the name of the build, all CAV are welcome to sign up. Remember, please do not self-deploy. Here is the latest update:

• Rose Rock Habitat in Norman, Oklahoma: This is a small affiliate in an area that endured 42 tornadoes in three weeks! One small town — Cole, Oklahoma — got hit twice. They are going to need some assistance. The long-term recovery group at HFHI has gotten involved to help them with additional funding and gifts-in-kind. Next, they will need builders. We are waiting on this affiliate to be ready for help and we hope it is after this heat wave is over. I expect we will schedule builds for all CAV to participate being led by one of our Disaster Rebuild Team members. Stay tuned. Waiting on the affiliate to be ready for help.
• Kentucky tornadoes: We could use more help in Clinton, Kentucky. This is the Fulton-Hickman affiliate in southwestern Kentucky. They plan to build three houses this year with the help of CAV, but we need more participation in these builds. I am working with the affiliate to get one or more builds listed this fall. Let’s finish this job!
• Thibodaux, Louisiana: They were hit hard two years ago by hurricanes Laura and Delta and last year by Ida and Nicholas. Thibodaux took an especially hard hit from Hurricane Ida. Bayou Area Habitat has been a partner of ours for many years and they need our help now. Several Habitat homes were damaged and need repair. We will work through the summer to get those homes repaired.
• California builds: Something you west-coasters have been asking for! One will be in North Los Angeles and the other in Modesto, in the Inland Empire. Both these areas were affected by flooding from the unrelenting rains this winter followed by the snow melt.
• Hurricane Idalia: This cleanup will take a while. Since much of the damage was from water, that always takes longer before they are ready for the rebuild. I will keep you informed and let you know when we will be needed.

More to come but watch our RV Care-A-Vanner | Facebook and the newsletter for updates.

Questions, cancellations or concerns:

Updated roster information:

Report your volunteer hours:

RV Care-A-Vanner Travel with a Purpose

More information