Racing into the New Year

racing into the new year

Most of us start a new year with some resolutions in mind. Whether or not we write them down is another matter and the follow-through still another. Still, it’s good to have goals; it’s fresh and hopeful to see potential in the fullness of another year ahead. A whole new start or a chance to tinker around our edges.

At Heartprint, the start to this new year felt like we had met some monumental goal and begun immediately to race towards the next one. We had built One Hundred homes!
When we finished House number 100 just at the end of 2023, we sat for a bit to reflect on how much we had learned in the process of building homes for 100 families previously living in conditions unimaginable to many of us. We looked back in awe of how your support helped us go from “just” building houses to also building a Centre for our community where people - from tiny tots to grandmas - come to learn new things, improve their futures, set goals and see the potential of the fullness of their whole lives ahead! (And where the youngsters get fresh fruit, vitamins and nutritious meals to help those years be lived in good health with well-nourished minds.)

But when the clock chimed in this new year, we put our reflections on the shelf for now and started at number ONE again - only this time it was ONE HUNDRED and one! Wow!
That’s what we meant by racing from meeting the goal of 100 homes to meet the next goal. We raced right into finishing House 101! Thank you Caitlin West for kicking off the year.

And we didn’t stop there! We went straight on to House 102 thanks to the generosity of Nomad Anaesthetics on the Gold Coast! And now 103! We will have more to say about this next month when you will also get a peek at the volunteer build team joining us in force from Queensland in Australia.

So welcome to 2024! Three families with new homes before we even get to Valentine’s Day!

We cannot build houses without help from you. Both financial and as volunteers. And did you know that we don’t just build houses and walk away? We stay in touch with our families.

In January, our outreach coordinator, Nary, checked in on three families. We want to make sure the families are doing OK - not all of them are in our Community Centre programs for various reasons - and also to have a look at the house to ensure it’s being maintained in good shape and kept clean and sanitary. It’s an agreement we have with all of our families.

Also for 2024, we’d like to know what you, as a member of our extended Heartprint family, would like to read more about in our newsletters?

How we actually build a house and toilet? More about the families who live in a Heartprint-built home? More about the families waiting for a home? Tell us.

Perhaps more about our programs for small children, or life skills or maybe a week in the life of Heartprint staff or at Heartprint writ large? (We promise those weeks are all busy!) What questions do you have? Or ideas?

We want to tell you more about what you want to know! Send us a note.

Happy 2024 to you! Eleven months to go. We can’t wait to see what each one brings!

As always, thanks for all you do.

The Heartprint Team.