Groundbreaking social housing project destroyed by arsonists

Chair, Liverpool Habitat for Humanity

15 May 2006

Dear friends,

As you all may be aware, Liverpool Habitat for Humanity experienced quite a tragic attack in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

The timber frames of the first three houses on Kingsley Road went up in flames and our security guard beaten up. Rest assured this will not deter us. The police are undertaking an extensive investigation and we are trusting that their experience and expertise will take care of the security issue. That is their business. Ours is about building homes and lives.

The new timber frames were ordered that same day and will be arriving this week. We are hoping to begin erecting the frames out of the ashes as early as Saturday, 20 May. However, inspection of the foundations needs to be completed this week.

We will be building as soon as possible. We will not be defeated. Habitat for Humanity is an International charity that has been building over 30 years and has built over 200,000 homes in 100 countries. This incident, sadly, is not the first nor will it be the last in Habitat's history. Yet, we are part of a massive family and are receiving support from around the world.

While the arson attack itself was soul destroying, the response from the local and wider community of Liverpool has been heart warming. We have had an amazing cry of outrage and rally of support.

I encourage everyone to get involved. You can volunteer or make a cash donation. Your company or faith group may want to sponsor a house. The houses cost approx. £50,000 for materials and people power does the rest. We have already had about 150 volunteers working on the site who have had a great time and made a difference in people's lives.

We could:

Get the local chefs to create a unique Habitat meal, pizza with the profit going to LHFH;
Design a house piggy bank to go into places of business;
Organise team building days;
Learn a new skill day;
Make a new friend day;
Have an unusual hen/stag party day;
Get the companies in Liverpool to sponsor a house - we want to go onto build houses in many areas of Liverpool.

 
The sky is the limit and we will look at all ideas. The point is we need to get the first houses done as soon as possible so that the community begins to take shape and there are people living on the site. In order to do this we need a steady stream of volunteers and donations.

Please help to obtain information or to sign up to come help us for a day or donate please contact 0151 707 9440 or mailto:info@liverpoolhfh.org.uk

Thank you all,

Shannon

The Revd Dr Shannon Ledbetter
Chair Liverpool Habitat for Humanity