November, 2014 - In This Issue

Self-Help Enterprises In The News

Self-Help Enterprises offers an exciting work environment where you can bring your high caliber skills to a true career opportunity and impact the world around you.

We have an opening for a Construction Manager, responsible for all onsite construction activities, estimating, purchasing, planning, and permitting for the self-help housing program; and a Construction Superintendent, responsible for teaching unskilled families how to build their own homes. Learn more here.   

On October 5, 2013, Adelfa Tinoco's 494 sq. ft. house was destroyed when a fire spread through her home in Linsday while she worked picking grapes in a vineyard near Poplar. With the house being uninhabitable and an unintentional lapse in home insurance, Adelfa was uncertain about how she would rebuild her home and her life.

Already on the wait-list with Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) for the Housing Rehabilitation Program, Adelfa turned to SHE for help. Through the Housing Rehabilitation Program, a partnership between the City of Lindsay and SHE, Adelfa was the beneficiary of a 30-year $83,000 loan at 0% interest, which permitted the construction of a new home.

Because the house needed to be constructed to the same 494 sq. ft. footprint, SHE and the contractor, Ray Guillen of RG Roofing and General Building, designed the house to maximize space. An island was added to the end of the kitchen counter top to be used as a table, the heater was placed in the attic to save living space, a linen cabinet between the bedroom doors was incorporated for linen storage space and the dryer vent was raised to accommodate a stacked washer and dryer.

A little over a year after losing her home and relocating to Porterville with family, Adelfa along with her family will enjoy the holidays in her new, safe and energy efficient home.

Self-Help Enterprises partnered with nonprofit solar installer Grid Alternatives for the fifth annual Solarthon. During the Solarthon, held the week of November 3, 106 solar panels were installed on eight homes in the Parksdale subdivision of Madera. 

Volunteers and vocational students from Proteus and the Central Valley Opportunity Center equipped the homes with rooftop solar systems that provide clean, renewable energy using the power of the sun. Families will not only reduce environmental impacts, but they will also benefit from reduced energy bills and improved environmental health.

With the holidays rapidly approaching, you may be thinking of doing some holiday shopping online.

This year, you can shop with AmazonSmile and support Self-Help Enterprises. When you shop on Amazon using this link, you'll find the exact same prices and selection as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to our organization.

We hope you'll bookmark the link and share it with your friends and family. We appreciate the support you provide Self-Help Enterprises in our mission to work together with low-income families to build and sustain healthy homes and communities. 

Eleven-year-old Yahir Alejandro C., who moved into a home built by his parents in Goshen, shares a drawing of his new house and what his family's new home means to him.

"My house is very pretty and my puppy is very happy. My house has a lot of space. My old house didn't have a yard or a garage. It also didn't have a lot of bedrooms and the park was far. I like that now the park is close to my house because before I didn't play outside a lot. Now I can play soccer and baseball."