Interfaith build

Michelle Tedford

Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

As a warm rain falls on her muddy front yard, Shirley White’s thoughts turn to the flower bulbs and grass seed she’ll soon plant.

To White, these musings are about more than the coming of spring. The yard represents a safe place for her nine adopted children to play.

The donated flower bulbs are reminders of the new friends she’s made during the past two years. And the muddy front yard means that her home — a “Lord-built house” in every sense — is her own.

During the first week of March, the White family moved into a home on Klepinger Road. It is the second home built as part of an interfaith collaboration of the Dayton Habitat for Humanity and the Interfaith Ministers for Reconciliation.

The local religious community raised $19,367 of the nearly $25,000 needed to build the five-bedroom, two-bathroom home. Members of nine faith groups offered labor and supplies to support the family and the build. Representing the Jewish community were Beth Abraham Synagogue and Temple Beth Or.

As a real estate agent, Beth Adelman — a member of the interfaith committee representing Beth Abraham Synagogue — knows the importance of affordable housing. She has volunteered with Habitat in the past. For the interfaith build, she organized volunteers and provided the White family with donations from the synagogue’s food bank.

She also arranged for the White family to attend a service at Beth Abraham. It was an opportunity for the congregation to learn more about Habitat for Humanity, a Christian-based organization that works with people of all faiths to alleviate substandard housing.

“When you see the family face to face and get to know them, it makes it more real,” she said. The service was also an opportunity for White family members, who are Pentecostal, to learn more about Judaism.

“The kids enjoyed it, hearing the Hebrew read on the one side (of the prayer book) and we could read the same words on the other side,” White said.

The Whites also attended a service at Temple Beth Or, and religious activities with the other interfaith partners from Dayton’s Muslim, Baha’i, Sikh, Hindu, Christian Science, Unitarian Universalist, Native American and Christian communities.

“I felt comfortable even the first time I sat down with them,” White said of each interfaith experience. “It was great to see there’s so many caring people in the world.”

As part of their eligibility to receive a Habitat home, family members must complete 300 hours of sweat equity. White cleaned the Habitat offices, her daughters helped with mailings, her uncle worked in Habitat’s ReSTORE (home and building resale store), and her boys painted the house.

This April, White and her family would have marked 12 years in an apartment in Dayton’s Hilltop Projects.

White said she became increasingly worried for the safety of her family, which includes seven grandchildren, a niece and a nephew, ages 5 to 18. Last year, two men were shot near her home and a third body was found in a nearby park. Drugs and violence were always present. She could never let her children play outside and always worried about them as they waited at the bus stop.

In her new neighborhood, the streets are quiet. Her children play with the neighbor’s dog. The bus stop is just outside her front door and her backyard backs up to a wooded lot.

Members of Temple Beth Or gave the White family kitchen and household items at the dedication ceremony on Feb. 19, which opened with a song from Cantor Joyce Dumtschin.

“This build brings out the best in people, and the religious groups are learning from each other,” said Anna Magnusson, Habitat development director. “It does so much more than build a home for a family, which is important in itself. It teaches so much.”

She is planning a third interfaith build in 2007-08, with fund-raising to begin this year.

© 2006 The Dayton Jewish Observer