A partnership was formed that is now helping residents in other cities as well. The Fuller Center builds houses; CRI builds community. Together, we are “Building on Higher Ground” to help those who lack the resources and the relationships that could make home ownership possible on their own.

The vision goes beyond building houses for a few. We are building hope for many. Shreveport’s Allendale neighborhood – an area of decaying houses, high crime and little income – was chosen for the launch of the “Higher Ground” initiative. With hundreds of volunteers coming from throughout the nation, this once forgotten neighborhood is now a place of new hope and new beginnings that is receiving worldwide attention.

Community Renewal International

A garden grows where trash and bottles once filled a vacant lot. Children gather on a playground built by a local service club. Residents who were once too frightened to come out of their houses now laugh and eat together at neighborhood block parties.

“Many years ago this was one of the worst communities in the city. Homicides, crime, gang activity – you name it and it was here,” said Jewel Mariner, one of two CRI Community Coordinators in Allendale. She lives in a Friendship House that has become an anchor for the neighborhood.

“It’s amazing to see the transformation in people’s lives and in this neighborhood. People used to just call this The Hill. Now it’s New Hope Hill. People in the community now have hope.”

By the start of 2007, little more than one year after work started, 23 new houses had been built in the community. Each one has its own unique features, designs and color schemes. Several of the new homeowners have become CRI Haven House leaders and now reach out to others in the neighborhood.

“I want to be a light on the hill. I care about my community and I want us to come together,” said Dorothy Wiley, who made a new start in Shreveport after she and her family were trapped in the New Orleans Superdome for four days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home. “You build a neighborhood by being a neighbor to everybody. You develop relationships one person at a time.”

The Higher Ground project was launched by Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity and then later of The Fuller Center for Housing.

“We are here to transform this city. We have the opportunity to make this one of the most beautiful cities in the country,” he said. “It’s so exciting that Community Renewal International and the Friendship Houses are here. You can build houses, but if you don’t build community, it will all fall apart.”

This tragedy is especially sad for us at The Fuller Center for Housing. The First Baptist Church is one of our stalwart partners in Shreveport. From the earliest days of Building on Higher Ground the church has been a part of the project, sending volunteer work teams and sponsoring houses. Millard preached from their pulpit. As the local covenant partner was being organized Pastor Greg Hunt came forward to offer leadership and the church has been active in encouraging others to join the effort. We are deeply indebted to our friends at First Baptist and we share their grief.

Members of the 1st Baptist team in front of a house they sponsored at the Millard & Linda Fuller Build

Events like this leave you wondering what to do. You wish you could reach out and say, “It will be alright” and wipe away the tears. You wish you could explain it in a way that would comfort the families and friends. But you can’t, so we will do what we can—we’ll pray for the injured and the family of the boy who died. We’ll pray for First Baptist that they have strength and faith as they work through the difficult days ahead. We ask you to pray for them as well.

The relationship between The Fuller Center and the church is a deep and abiding one. From the earliest days of his ministry Millard looked to the church for support and began establishing partnerships that survive to this day. We’re not a church, but a servant to the church, and when the church is hurting we hurt as well. May the good Lord enfold the folks at First Baptist in his comforting arms.

But by the time Millard asked us to stand on our chairs, to physically and visually symbolize the idea of Building on Higher Ground, I think we would have just as readily stood on a flagpole. We were that inspired.

He also shared a word new to most of us “” Oyee (Oh — yay). A word of African origin, it was a rallying cry and a shout of affirmation we would hear many times.

For Shreveport, the meeting that morning led to the 38 beautiful new homes, built by volunteers from around the nation, now standing in the Allendale neighborhood. Millard committed to at least 60, and I have no doubt we will reach that number.

For me, that meeting led to one of the greatest honors of my life: to work with and for one of the truly heroic servant leaders of our time. Millard made $1 million before he was 30, but when it nearly cost him his marriage, he gave it all away, took his family to the mission field and then returned home to start Habitat for Humanity. Under his leadership, Habitat housed more than one million people in 100 nations.

Millard died from heart failure in an ambulance not far from his Georgia home Feb. 3, one month after his 74th birthday. Despite his age, his sudden death came as an absolute shock. He had tremendous energy and often seemed to have a hammer in one hand and a cell phone in the other.

Community Renewal International founder Mack McCarter drove to Georgia soon after the hurricane to meet with Millard, a longtime friend, and to seek the help of The Fuller Center for Housing in Shreveport. Millard answered the call like a father rushing to the bedside of a sick child. He visited Allendale and saw in his visionary mind more than houses for hurricane evacuees. He saw something few Shreveporters ever imagined for that crime-ridden area “” a new community. Today on these streets of Allendale, where flowers bloom and children play outside, we can see what Millard saw back in 2005.

Millard spoke so often about Shreveport in his travels the past three years that the Chamber of Commerce should have put him on the payroll. He believed in this city with a force that put many of us to shame.

Ever smiling, always optimistic, he challenged us to stop driving by our downtrodden communities as though they don’t even exist. Because of Millard, many people who never dared go into Allendale volunteered to build houses there and now have friends there.

Millard made Shreveport a better place. He made the world a better place.

He also sensed that his time with us was drawing to a close. The last time I heard Millard preach was in Union Church of San Salvador before the start of the Millard and Linda Fuller Blitz Build last fall.

“I started Habitat for Humanity when I was 40 and I started The Fuller Center when I was 70. I tell people I have to go faster now because I have less time,” he said that morning in El Salvador. “When you are approaching the goal line, when you are coming to the end, you need to speed up, not slow down. My philosophy is you oughta wear out instead of rusting out.”

Millard certainly did not rust out, and I don’t think he wore out, either. I would rather believe that God needed another builder for the mansions in heaven and he gave Millard a new assignment.

We miss you terribly, Millard, but it is a well-deserved promotion. I only hope the angels remembered to shout Oyee when you arrived.

© David Westerfield

David Westerfield is the director of communications for Community Renewal International and a member of the board of The Fuller Center of Northwest Louisiana.