St. Andrew's Church raises wall on two-story St. Paul build

Volunteer crews from St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church raised the first wall Monday on a two-story, three-bedroom home on Jessamine Avenue. The St. Paul build is being sponsored by longtime supporter Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, with additional sponsorship by St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church of Mahtomedi.

Crews worked on building house walls and building the garage this week.

“Half the crew this week is people who have been here many, many times and half are new people,” said Site Supervisor Rhonda Thorson. “St. Andrew’s, they’ve been volunteering … forever.” 

On Monday, St. Andrew’s also had an impressive age range on site: there were volunteers as young as 16 and as old as 87. 

Site Host Vicki Henry even met her husband, Roger, at a Habitat event in 1992. She had been given a list of potential community service opportunities for a class project. 

“I said I don’t know much about it, but how about this Habitat for Humanity fundraiser walk?” she remembered. There she met Roger, and the couple met again on a build site shortly thereafter. They have been together ever since. 

Vicki helped formalize the group’s partnership with Habitat in 1993, when St. Andrew’s first decided to sponsor a build week as a change from its twice-weekly build days. 

In 2010 alone, more than 130 congregants participated in their Habitat initiative. Every year, St. Andrew’s has a Habitat Sunday. On that day, they not only take up a special offering to help Habitat, but they also share the work that they as a congregation have participated in. The family who St. Andrew’s helped the previous year attends this special day and shares their story.