Anniversary Build

2009 was a very exciting 20th Anniversary year for our organization. We had six families move into homes recently completed on Blakely Road; completed a home for Housing Works on McKinley Ave; and began construction of our new community, Parkway Village, with a very successful Blitz Build early in September.

Our 20th Anniversary Build at Parkway Village will be dedicated to Melissa Evans and her two daughters on Saturday May 8th at 10 am. This home will be Habitat's 84th home built in Bend.

It has taken thousands of volunteers to build these homes over the last 20 years and every one of them is greatly appreciated and deserves recognition. However, we occasionally have a volunteer that truly stands out from the crowd. Fennan Jennings was one of these volunteers.

Feenan and his wife ML moved to Bend from College Station, Texas in 1996. They had been active in Habitat in Texas and within weeks of arriving in Bend were in the Habitat office volunteering. Feenan immediately went to work looking for grant money for Bend Area Habitat for Humanity. He was excellent at identifying grantors, writing detailed grant requests, and following up with the grantors. However, what he really loved was going out to the job site and working on houses. He was one of the good ole boys, who were always there to keep the construction going. Feenan was in his late 70's and early 80's during this time. He worked circles around us "young" guys. He was a role model. While Feenan has passed, his memory remains strong at Habitat and is frequently held up as a perfect example of a committed Habitat volunteer. It is for these reasons that we are dedicating the construction of the 20th Anniversary Build to the memory of Feenan Jennings.

In celebration of our 20 years as an organization, we ask you to join us in honoring Feenan by volunteering at the build site or making a donation in his memory. Feenan was committed to the goal of providing decent and affordable homes in our community. Your contribution would go a long way toward accomplishing this goal.