As 2011 winds down, now is the time to make those last-minute donations to include on your 2011 tax returns.

Looking for some last minute tax-deductible giving opportunities that don’t just help you out on your taxes but also benefit families?

The Fuller Center of Northwest Louisiana Inc, has completed 43 new homes, 53 Greater Blessing (Rehab) projects.

We are excited about completing Fuller Grocery at 300 North Allen and the opening of Fuller Surplus Store in 2012.

We celebrated the this holiday by blessing our homeowners and neighbors with toys from the Toys for Tots program to our families that had children 11 years of age or younger, in addition we received some special donations from some dear friends and supports for three of our families that experience extreme hardship this year.

Thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Shreveport & Brookshire’s Spirit of Christmas Food Drive some of our most distressed families and community residences also received food baskets this holiday season.

We would like to thank each and every one of you for showing the spirit of Christ this Holiday season.

Sincerely,

Lee A. Jeter, Sr.
Executive Director
Fuller Center for Housing NWLA

Be part of the Fuller Legacy and purchase a memorial brick at the Gazebo in Millard Fuller Park.

In honor of Millard Fuller, The Fuller Center for Housing of Northwest Louisiana will be building a gazebo surrounded by memorial bricks. We are honoring Millard and the work he accomplished.

This gazebo will be located in the future community park at on Alston Street in Allendale in Shreveport. The gazebo will be build in early 2012.

We are selling 1200 bricks for this project. Each brick costs only $50.00. There are 4 lines of engraving each 18 characters long. Please, help our ministry by ordering your brick today.

These engraved pavers will make a lasting, personal contribution from you in this community park. Beautifully finished these pavers are 8″ x 4″ in size and are made from natural shale and hard-fired for years of enduring beauty.

What can you put on your brick?

• You can dedicate this in honor or memorial of a family member or loved one
• Your family can have their own brick
• Your business can sponsor a brick
• Or maybe a favorite quote or bible passage

Order Your Brick Today

Click on the “Buy Now” button below. You will be taken to PayPal were you can purchase your brick. After you have purchased your brick you will be taken to a order form. On the form you will be able to specify the 4 lines of text that you want to appear on your memorial brick.

Only $50.00 for this lasting gift to the Fuller Center

Saturday, former and current MBA students took to the freshly power-washed exterior of the future grocery site to spruce it up with a fresh coat of paint, a major sign of progress, said Lee Jeter, executive director of The Fuller Center.

“This is our way of showing this community that the grocery store we have been talking about for so long is coming to fruition,” he said. “It allows them to still believe and show them that we still believe in this community.”

Chris Martin, dean of Centenary’s Business School, said students from the MBA program often analyze nonprofit and for-profit companies as part of their studies, but The Fuller Center’s project is one that they continue to revisit.

“We’re so excited to be able to be a part of the progress of this store,” he said. “This goes beyond the classroom or the computer screen. We’re able to see the project from the beginning to now, and it’s so great to help with that.”

Cindy Gleason Johnson was among the students in Centenary’s MBA program who helped The Fuller Center develop its plans. She said she is eager to see the grocery store come to life.

“It’s a great step toward getting a quality grocery store for this community,” she said. “So many in this neighborhood are without transportation or may have another reason they cannot travel very far. This puts a quality food business in an area that really needs it.”

Jeter said there is still a long way to go before the grocery store is completed. The Fuller Center is awaiting word on two grants to fund the project. Jeter said any local businesses from electricians to plumbers who would be willing to donate their services would be invaluable at this juncture.

“We are one of the few organizations where 100 percent of donations go directly to the communities we serve,” he said. “There is not one dime that goes to administrative costs or anything like that. Our goal is to put as much into these communities as possible.”

Written by Mary Nash-Wood – The Shreveport Times

Fuller Center for Housing NWLA works with needy families and individuals in our community without proper shelter. We are able to help many of these families and individuals not only to meet essential housing needs, but to work toward a brighter future.

While all of us are susceptible to hard times, children and the elderly are at the most risk, and they make up the largest number of clients we serve.

It is through the support of (individuals, corporate representatives) like SM Energy that we are able to continue to strengthen our programs, and to develop new and innovative projects to serve our community.

Thank you again for your compassionate support. Volunteers with your passion and dedication are so hard to come by. It is one thing for people to give money, but to give so selflessly of your time speaks volumes for SM Energy and your wonderful staff.

Thanks,

The Fuller Center NWLA

Dianne Fuller, left, and others tour the revitalized Allendale community.

SHREVEPORT, La. – While volunteers hammered away at the Millard Fuller Legacy Build in Minden 30 miles away, a group gathered Wednesday in the Allendale community to view how The Fuller Center for Housing with its Northwest Louisiana covenant partner has transformed a once drug-fueled, crime-ridden community into a flourishing oasis for families.

The most recent of the 43 Fuller Center houses built in Allendale.

In 2005, Allendale became a springboard for The Fuller Center’s ever-growing mission to help other communities enjoy similar transformations and help lift more families out of poverty housing. The Fuller Center did not start out as an organization intent on transforming entire communities. What happened in Allendale shaped the entire mission of The Fuller Center.

“The Fuller Center went to Shreveport as a result of Hurricane Katrina to help with some of the refugees who’d fled the storm,” Fuller Center for Housing President David Snell said. “What came out of Allendale was one of the greatest examples of community renewal.”

The trip to Shreveport had a second purpose. FCH of Northwest Louisiana and homeowners in the neighborhood have planted a live oak tree in honor of Glen Barton, the former vice president of U.S. field operations who died in August.

THE TRANSFORMATION

Few are more passionate in talking about the transformation than Lee Jeter, an ex-Marine who leads the Fuller Center of Northwest Louisiana. He’s seen the change in the hearts of the community, in the lives of families and in statistics.

New Allendale Homes

“We want you to look around at the change in this community,” Jeter told the crowd assembled at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament church on the edge of the neighborhood. “The crime rate has dropped 80 percent since The Fuller Center began building homes in the Allendale community. People in this community who didn’t trust anybody are now beginning to trust us.”

The group walked the streets of dozens of homes. Lee pointed out where a liquor store once stood and was the hub of undesirable community activity, as well as “The Hill,” where drug use and crime was rampant. “The Hill” is no more, only a beautiful slope of homes with the sights and sounds of children playing.

“We’ve got do what Jesus said, to go there and spread the gospel, and change this world one community and one house at a time,”. That is our mission. That is our calling. That’s why we’re here. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”

GLEN BARTON

Tree planted for Glen Barton

When Fuller Center co-founder Millard Fuller was encouraged to step in and see if he could help lift up the impoverished Allendale community, he said yes. And he immediately turned to Glen Barton to become his “boots on the ground” in Shreveport. Barton, who had worked with Fuller at Habitat for Humanity, accepted the challenge.

And Allendale was forever changed.

“Glen Barton went to Shreveport on a short-term basis to help get the project started, but he wound up staying almost two years there,” Snell said. “And in doing so, he became a friend to countless people there. He put folks into houses, and they are truly grateful.”

A testament to his service to the community now grows in the heart of the neighborhood, a live oak tree planted in his memory. At a service around the tree Wednesday, letters and poems were read, songs were sung, and thankful homeowners wiped away tears and hugged Glen’s widow, Brenda Barton.

“It was a really positive experience to go back and see all the things that had changed and the growth,” Brenda said of the visit. “Seeing the homeowners that we’d worked with was really heartwarming. It was really good to see how everything’s continuing to grow.

“Glen would definitely be very proud of the way it’s continuing,” she added. “Not only he and Millard, but there were so many who came in and gave so much. And many are here at the Legacy Build. It took a lot of people to do it.”

Brenda Barton gets a hug from a homeowner as Lee Jeter looks on.

Of course, Brenda wasn’t the only one wiping away a few tears when the tour arrived at the live oak tree planted in his honor. Felicia Sewell was one of those. And her young daughters Makaila and Miracle were especially fond of Glen Barton.

“He always was working,” Sewell said. “He had the tenacity to make things happen. He did whatever it took for the homeowners here to get into our homes. And I will forever remember his smile, and he and Brenda coming in on Saturdays and Sundays working late into the evening. They were a blessing to my family. If it wasn’t for Glen Barton, I wouldn’t be here today.”

The transformation of this house to a home was completed with the help of many volunteer partners and individuals. This group, just as those of the past, included many of our faith that participated at various times and with various means.

But most notably at this site was on Saturday April 30th in support of the Fuller Center of NWLA’s “Catholic Work (Service) Day”. The Fuller Center counts on days such as this one to bring forth the volunteer and donor support that ultimately makes each of their construction projects possible.

September 3rd was special in so many ways for Mr. and Mrs. Willie Rochelle and their family. They realized their investment of 700 hours of “sweat equity” in the construction and care of this house held a value that was not measured in just dollars and cents. It was even more special for Mrs. Rochelle in that this day was also her birthday.

The entrance ribbon was cut after the traditional Fuller Center welcome gifts of a blanket, Holy Bible, and finally the keys were presented. The blanket represents the warmth and comfort and shelter that a home provides for a family. The Holy Bible represents a home built with the hands and feet of Jesus and reminds us that his presence must continue with God’s word filling our hearts and minds and spirit with his promise. And lastly, the presentation of the keys to the house marks the transformation of a structure to the beginning of a new family home.

Listed among the Home Sponsors is HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC PARISH – BARKSDALE AFB CHAPEL. There were representatives from this parish along with the parishes of Blessed Sacrament and Holy Trinity present for this dedication. They remembered and represented all of those of our Catholic Faith that supported this effort that could not be present on this particular day.

This truly was a blessed day of celebration for all involved in this project and the success stories of the past. Please consider this and any future projects presented by The Fuller Center for the unique opportunity they truly represent for us all to be charitable with our time and support.

Mrs. Cora Rochelle will be receiving a special birthday gift on Saturday, September 3, 2011.

The Fuller Center for Housing of Northwest Louisiana, Inc. will be dedicating their 43rd home on Saturday, the day of Mrs. Rochelle birthday. Volunteers will complete outside landscaping and beautification on Saturday beginning at 8:00AM leading up to the noon dedication.

Join the Fuller Center as we dedicate our 43rd home in the Allendale neighborhood!

Please, join the Fuller Center this Saturday as we dedicate our 43rd home in the Allendale neighborhood! This home is for the family of Mr. & Mrs. Willie Rochelle.

THE ROCHELLE FAMILY HAS SERVED NEARLY 700 SWEAT EQUITY HOURS – (TWICE THE REQUIREMENT)

During construction, they cleaned up debris from the house and yard, watered and mowed the grass and even provided several meals for volunteer workers.

Home sponsored by:

• FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
• FIRST BAPTIST SHREVEPORT
• J.P. MORGAN CHASE BANK
• ST MARK’S CATHEDRAL
• WELLS FARGO HOUSING FOUNDATION
• HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC PARISH –BARKSDALE AFB CHAPEL

Hundreds of volunteers help make this 43rd dedication possible, you are invited to come and share in the glorious celebration with the Rochelle Family.

Renee Hooks of Shreveport talks about how Glen Barton went above and beyond the call of duty to help her.

Family, friends and colleagues of Glen Barton gathered today at The Fuller Center for Housing headquarters in Americus to voice tributes to a man who sacrificed tirelessly for others, especially families across the nation.

There were smiles, laughs and tears, but unquestionably the most emotional moment was when Fuller Center homeowner Louis Brossett of Shreveport, La., spoke. Louis, a friendly man who always seems to have a smile on his face, fought back tears as he described how Glen and The Fuller Center came to the rescue … helping him obtain a home and helping a community come back to life.

Louis also unexpectedly broke into song at the conclusion of the service at Andersonville National Cemetery, where Glen’s ashes are now interred. Afterward, I chatted with Louis, who described how amid an atmosphere of hopelessness, hope arrived in the form of Millard Fuller and Glen Barton.

“I still remember exactly how he said, ‘Hi, I’m Glen Barton with The Fuller Center for Housing,’ and it was just like the heavens opened up,” Louis said.

Another Shreveport resident, Renee Hooks, spoke of how when should could not attend her daughter’s recital Glen transported her and stopped off at a store to make the night even more special by buying a bouquet of roses.

And those stories just kept coming. The service at Andersonville was more personal with a great speech from Glen’s son, Brian.

We should all leave others with memories of our service, as Glen so evidently did.

By Chris Johnson
Director of Communications
Fuller Center for Housing