Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Urban Fuel Banquet
April 18's banquet went very well. We were honored to have Bill and Andrea Betts and Homer and Ursula Craig as our Guests of Honor. All but Mrs. Craig grew up in Hazelwood, and they have all actively served the neighborhood for decades. We were also pleased to raise $622 for Desmond's family after losing their home in the fire. This is in addition to the $150 already donated. Board member Cheryl Eads prepared the dinner and Kelly Pritchard assisted. Starbucks provided free coffee.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Banquet video
"Ya Time Is Now" soundtrack borrowed with permission from the cd The K.R.U.N.K. Movement ONUS - a project of COL (Center of Life) at The Keystone Church of Hazelwood. HG Productions. c. 2007 Launchpad Music.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Student Worker loses house
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 18, another fire broke out in Hazelwood. Officials believe it started in front a vacant house and spread to the surrounding houses. Unfortunately one of our student workers, Desmond, and his family lived in the end house. Less than 12 hours earlier he had just worked in the Hazelnut preparing coffee and cookies for the Hazelwood Initiative meeting. Urban Fuel made an immediate donation and will be taking up a collection at Friday's banquet for the family. See the Post-Gazette article.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Repair Project
As part of our business dinner series, contractor Scott Bowman ("Bo") taught the student workers tool basics on March 4. We then followed the business dinner up with a practical repair project. On Friday, March 28, Bo supervised Christina, Johnny and Matt while building a pair of steps for an elderly neighbor on Glen Caladh. Bo, Christina, Bo's grandson Cody and for a brief time Johnny returned on April 26 to install the steps.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sad News
Unfortunately I received some sad news this week. Since the summer of 2006 we have ordered our coffee directly from a family coffee grower named Cristian in Palmares, Costa Rica. He and his family are pictured above. His organically grown, environmentally friendly Arabica coffee has received all positive comments. It is as fair trade as one can possibly get. I wired the money directly to his account. When I went to make an order this past week, I found out robbers raided his property and stole so much coffee that he and his family were forced to shut down and move. I'm so sad for his family. This of course also means we won't be able to offer Cafe Horeb coffee anymore.
PHLF Grant for church
Hazelwood Christian Church will be awarded a $6000 grant from Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation for repair work on the brick pointing, parapets, chimney capstone and front entrance stone. It is a matching grant. The church through its 2006 capital campaign will pay the remaining $6300 balance for the repairs.
2007 Executive Director's Report
See the link to the left for the year end report. Financial reports will be posted at a later time after the accounting firm Terry Collier and Associates completes a financial review of Urban Fuel.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Christmas Coffee House 07
The annual Christmas coffee house went very well. The COL jazz group played. Approximately 48 attended. Cheryl Eads hosted Keke, Biz and Bean the week prior to bake free Christmas cookies. Through COL, Dr. Dave Somers and Dr. Rodney Hopson were present from Duquesne University to listen to community needs and to present opportunities at Duquesne. We're very blessed to have so many people who care about Urban Fuel and the neighborhood.
Friday, November 09, 2007
UF & Hazelnut Documents - See Links
Through Board member Ed Provident's help we were able to create a companion page on the Hazelwood Christian Church website that allows us to post UF and Hazelnut documents. See the links to the left. A few of the more important documents such as the Strategic Plan, Hazelnut Worker application and Worker Manual have their own independent links to the left. In addition, we'll be posting financial reports as they are available. This has also been made possible through Techsoup.com which allowed Urban Fuel as a 501(c)(3) to purchase Adobe Acrobat Professional for $45.
