In the 1920s and 1930s, the Cotton Club in Harlem was the place to be for New York City’s most prominent jazz musicians. Jazz greats Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway served as the club’s band leaders. Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker are among the legendary talent who were reported to have performed at the club. It even inspired the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola film The Cotton Club and was quite the hot spot for nearly two decades until it closed for good in 1940.

 Twelve years after the closing of the Cotton Club, a well-connected Washington, DC real estate agent was looking to turn a room in her home at 22^nd and P Streets into an elegant gathering place. Mrs. Smith envisioned poetry readings and music there and hired a designer from New York City who had worked at the Cotton Club to design the room. Her nephew’s friend, Sherman Harris, remembers the designer coming down from New York City and spending a week transforming the room. One of the pieces the designer installed was a piano that he told them had been played at the Cotton Club and sold at auction when the club closed. “I was amazed by how he turned four plain walls into a space that spoke of community,” said Sherman, who was in high school in 1952. “Mrs. Smith’s nephew, Kermit, and I and watched the transformation as much as we could, but Mrs. Smith told us we were in the way and shooed us out.”

 Eventually Kermit inherited the piano from his aunt when she passed away. When Kermit began suffering from heart problems in 1975 and was no longer able to use the piano, he gave it to Sherman. “My children were young at that time and they used it all through high school and college,” said Sherman. Sherman says he was hesitant to donate the piano due to his fond memories and the piano’s connection to his friend Kermit, but when his son suggested donating it to Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County’s ReStore, he agreed. “I just hope someone else will get the joy from it that my family did,” he said.

 Sources: Harlem World Blog, PBS Web Site

HFH-MC would like to thank all of the volunteers that were involved with Pledge 25! We appreciate everyone’s dedication, and hope that everyone enjoyed the pleasure of giving back to their community.

If you would like to continue to volunteer for Habitat, check out our website .

Help us celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Community Service Day by signing-up for Pledge 25 today.  Be sure to begin soon; October 22^nd is quickly approaching! You can sign up for volunteer opportunities with Habitat here (http://habitat-mc.volunteerhub.com/Events/Browse.aspx).

 Pledge 25 hours at HFH-MC by volunteering with our family services committee! Go to www.montgomerycountymd.gov/volunteer to start recording your hours today and learn more! Click here to see a copy of our flyer!

When the housing crisis hit in 2008, HFH-MC quickly realized that this was an opportunity for us to work with Montgomery County to reduce the amount of vacant properties while continuing to do what we do best – build homes for low-income families.  The county provided funding that allowed HFH-MC to purchase 13 foreclosed properties in Silver Spring, one of the areas hardest hit by the crisis.  After finishing the first  13 rehabilitations, we realized that this was a program we wanted to continue. Since August of 2010, we’ve purchased 6 additional homes, 3 of which we’ve completed, 1 of which we are dedicating this Saturday, September 10th, and 2 of which are still in process.

Our rehabilitation program has not only allowed us to provide 19 families with the opportunity to purchase simple, decent, affordable homes, but it’s allowed us to engage the community in the fight against poverty housing.  Since the launch of this program in 2009, more than 750 volunteers have spent more than 6,000 hours working on our sites.  We’ve had a Women Build Committee sponsor two homes, a Pride Build Committee sponsor one home, and Thrivent Builds sponsor four homes. The overwhelming volunteer and financial support for the program has been tremendous and as we often say – our work would not be possible without the support of community members like you.

Here’s a look back the first 17 NRP homes and the 2 still to come!

Thank you for all of your help and for your continued support. I look forward to seeing you onsite, in ReStore, in the office, or advocating for decent housing in the community.

Best,

Sarah Reddinger

We have completed our 63rd house here at HFH-MC! This home was our fourth Thrivent Builds home and our 17th NRP Home. The family has been working hard to complete their sweat-equity hours for this house and are excited to see the results!

Their new home is another renovated house that was purchased after it had been foreclosed on and sat vacant for over a year. Thanks to all the hard work of our many awesome volunteers and tireless construction team leaders, it is now coming to completion.

We want to thank the following congregations for all of their contributions to this house: Christ Lutheran of Bethesda, Good Shepherd Gaithersburg, Messiah Lutheran, Good Shepherd Olney, Lutheran Church of St. Andrew, St. John’s in Rockville, St. Luke’s in Derwood, Prince of Peace, and Epiphany Lutheran.  We also want to thank the Montgomery County, Maryland Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for their continued and tremendous support.

On Saturday September 10th at 3:00pm, we will be gathering at the house to honor the hard work, generous financial contributions, and community support that made the rehabilitation of this home possible, and to welcome the family home.

We invite you to attend and celebrate with us. Please RSVP.