Board of Directors

Bev Vesper

Riley McManus

Lillian Marshall

Peter Blatchey

Diana Bennett

Ed Triem

Sherri Koepnick

Michele Kwiatkowski

Paul Kendall

Marjorie Wilke-Baker

Willy Dilworth

Kevin Mutscher

 

 

Executive Committee

President: Marjorie-Wilke Baker

Vice President: Sherri Koepnick

Treasurer: Michele Kwiatkowski

Secretary: Diana Bennett

Administration and Legal Committee

Chairman: Kevin Mutscher

The Administrative and Legal Committee oversees the administrative and legal needs for WCHH.  Typical tasks are:

• Allocating and managing funds and resources to conduct WCHH business with Habitat International, City and County agencies and businesses, contractors, and our home partners.

• Obtaining or providing counsel and advice to WCHH on legal and accounting issues as required.

• Obtaining insurance coverage for WCHH property and operations.

• Administering family partner mortgages and related matters.

• Developing and implementing policies and procedures for organization and operation of WCHH.

• Preparing and maintaining records and reports required by law and good business practices.

This committee requires special skills.  We need lawyers, CPAs, professional secretaries and/or administrative assistants,  or someone with similar special skills, talents, and interest.  If you think you have something to offer, please contact Laura Upchurch.  The committee does not meet regularly.  Tasks are handled on an as-needed basis.  However, attendance at Executive Committee meetings is beneficial.  These meetings are no more frequently than monthly, typically on the third Thursday of a month when called.  Communication by e-mail is important

Communications Committee

Chairman: Lillian Marshall

The WCHH Communications Committee is undergoing structural changes with the beginning of our Internet web site. This web site will become a major way in which we communicate with the community and within our organization. The committee will be responsible for the following activities:
 

• Maintaining a directory of addresses for all WCHH members and volunteers and sharing updates of that information with all other members on a regular basis (at least monthly). Our preferred method of communication is by e-mail since it minimizes cost and time, but if some members do not have access to e-mail, then they will receive updates by regular mail, perhaps on a less frequent basis.
• Maintaining the webs site.
• Assisting any Operating Committee or Executive Committee member that needs assistance in communicating with their committee members or the overall organization membership, including the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.
• Coordinating communications with the community through press releases, personal contacts with local news media, and responding to requests for talks at local events (club meetings, school activities, church events, etc).
• Maintaining a photographic record of the progress of each house in a method suitable for use in updating the web site and for storing information for historical records (electronic media preferred).
• Preparing a weekly e-mail status report on the progress of houses under construction or other items of interest to the WCHH organization, volunteers, and supporters in cooperation with the Volunteer Coordination Committee.

New members of this committee are welcome and needed. Some tasks can be done by anyone willing to take them on. Others require special skills such as web site design and maintenance, preparing press releases, communicating with local radio personnel, and preparing and making presentations at local organization meetings. Knowledge of MS PowerPoint, any web authoring software or HTML, MS Word, MS Excel is desirable, but not necessary. Most communications within the committee are by e-mail.

Construction Committee

Chairman: Peter Blatchley
 

The Construction Committee is responsible for designing, planning, and helping the partner family building their house. This committee currently meets weekly during a home build to plan the next week's activities and discuss any issues that may have come up form the previous week's work. Tasks may be assigned to individuals to follow-up during the week. The committee has the responsibility to get materials to the site for volunteers to use, to oversee site safety, and to ensure quality construction in compliance with our specifications, design, and codes. Most of the members of the Construction Committee have a strong interest in working with tools and doing skilled or semi-skilled tasks or have been involved in construction project management. But a strong interest in learning and the willingness to assist as required are sufficient for participation on the committee.

 

Development Committee

Chairman: Sherri Koepnick
 

The Development Committee is responsible for coordinating the raising of funds needed to conduct the business of WCHH. The specific tasks to be coordinated are:
 

• Fund-raising campaigns
• Grant proposal writing
• Special fund-raising events
• Cultivation of major donors

The Church Relations subcommittee is a committee within the Development Committee with the specific goal of contacting local churches to encourage their support or WCHH.

New committee members are welcome. If you have previous experience in fund-raising on any level, we can find a spot for you. Even no experience and lots of energy and a positive attitude can help us get the support we need. Bring your ideas and join our committee. Meetings are called as needed. There area no regularly scheduled meetings.

Family Selection and Support Committee

Chairman: Ed Triem

The Family Selection and Support Committee is responsible for preparing selection criteria for WCHH partner families. These proposed criteria, once approved by the Board of Directors, are then used to screen applications, interview applicants, conduct home visits, and recommend applicants to the Board of Directors for prospective partners.

In addition to recommending the partners to be selected, the committee is responsible for developing and implementing a support system for the families that includes educational opportunities as wells as a forum to discuss issues of concern that the families might have. The objective is to ensure a successful transition from a tenuous existence to an independent, self-supporting family unit.

The committee meets as needed. New members are welcome. No special skills are required, but a strong interest in helping others is necessary. Ability to communicate in Spanish or Vietnamese is desirable. Skills in developing instructional programs and working with adults in an educational environment would be beneficial.
 

Site Selection Committee

Chairman: Paul Kendall
 

The Site Selection Committee is responsible for evaluating and recommending to the Board of Directors the area or areas of the community in which projects (new homes) will be developed. The committee will check out the availability of property in these areas and recommend specific properties to the Board of Directors for acquisition. Prior to making a recommendation to the Board, the committee will reach agreement with the Construction Committee with regard to the suitability of potential sites.


The skills required for participating in this committee are basic real estate experience or personal knowledge of properties in Washington County are beneficial. Knowledge of legal issues in real estate such as title search. Skills in online (Internet) searches and knowledge of local County and City government staff and practices are especially useful.
 

This committee also handles utility connections, and preliminary site clearing and grading.

The committee meet on an as-needed basis. You are welcome to join.

Volunteer Coordination Committee

Chairman: Peter Blatchley
 

The Volunteer Coordination Committee is responsible for recruiting and coordinating volunteers for WCHH committee, projects and programs. In 2004, most of the effort is directed at recruiting and coordinating volunteers for building work days (usually Saturdays). As this committee grows, more of its attention can be spent on getting new members for other committees and other volunteer opportunities within WCHH.

The prime responsibility is to make arrangements with local churches, organizations, and individual volunteers to ensure there are adequate volunteers for each work day. This requires make contact by telephone, e-mail, and personal appearances at organization meetings. A good knowledge of the various churches and organizations around town is very useful, but a willingness to contact groups that you don't know and invite them to help is sufficient.

Coordination with the Construction Committee is necessary to ensure that the right skills and interests in the volunteers are being matched with the tasks required each week. Currently we are accomplishing this by distributing a status report on the building progress weekly following the Construction Committee meeting. The progress report goes to the Volunteer Coordination Committee members and all WCHH volunteers who have listed their e-mail address with WCHH Volunteer Coordination. The report includes a description of work completed the previous week, work planned and tools required the following week, and typically a picture of the house following the last Saturday.s work. Volunteer Coordination will use the report to communicate our needs with other groups and individuals not on the e-mail list.

In addition to getting the volunteers to the site, the Volunteer Coordination Committee is responsible for coordinating (but not necessarily preparing) snacks, lunches, water, coffee, other drinks, and refreshments for the house builder volunteers. Currently these tasks are usually handled by church groups, but our goal is to try to get more local businesses involved in this part of the project.

The Volunteer Coordination committee also is responsible for keeping track or all volunteer sign-in sheets, recording hours worked, and being sure all workers have completed liability release forms and medical information forms.

Members on this committee are always needed and welcome. The main skill required is an ability to organize, plan, and contact people with a hand out for their support. Preparing the weekly status report in cooperation with the Communications Committee requires a willingness to be at the site at least once each build day (usually Saturday) to take pictures (with a digital camera preferably) and to meet with the a representative of the Construction Committee to document progress. The person doing this task will also need to attend or get the results from the Construction Committee meeting (Tuesday evenings usually) to document the plans for the coming weekend work. This task may be shared with the Communications Committee.

The person keeping records of the volunteers work hours and contact information needs to be familiar with MS Excel spreadsheets or be willing to convert all the data to some other form or database and be able to share it with others in WCHH. Liability release forms and other records with confidential information need to be kept secure and safe yet easily accessible by WCHH Executive Committee.

This is a challenging assignment overall, but one in which almost anyone an contribute in small areas. If you have the interest, let us know and we will find a use for your skills.