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N e w s LONG TERM CONSTRUCTION MANAGER RETIRES Habitat for Humanity of Utah County Construction Manager, John Roberts, retired from the local Habitat affiliate at the end of Decem-ber. Roberts has been heading up the affiliate’s Construction depart-ment for almost nine years and has been instrumental to the success and growth of the local organization. A retirement party will be held in his honor later this month. Details to follow. We appreciate his dedicated, kind, and patient service and wish him all the best in his retirement. He will be truly missed. UVU AND HABITAT TO SPONSOR ANNUAL ‘NO SNOW’ INDOOR 5K Utah Valley University is teaming up with Habitat for Humanity of Utah County to sponsor the Seventh Annual “No Snow” Indoor 5 K on Saturday, January 25, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. The event begins at Centre Stage in the Sorensen Student Center and includes a stair or a non-stair route option. Participants can run or walk the 3.1 miles indoors through UVU’s interconnected hallways. All partici-pants will receive a free T-shirt and free pancake breakfast following the race. Proceeds will benefit the UVU/Habitat for Humanity home currently being built in Springville with the Woods family. Registration for the 5K is $10.00 in advance or $15.00 on race day starting at 8 a.m. Children under 10 are free. Participants can register early by going to UVU’s Campus Connection in the Sorensen Student Center or online at www.habitatuc.org. Call 801-863-8786 or email volunteer@uvu.edu for more infor-mation. STUDENTS TO HONOR DR. KING WITH “DAY ON” Students from Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University will be honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by helping Habitat for Humanity of Utah County with a number of projects dur-ing the Martin Luther King Day holiday on Monday, January 20, 2014. The student volunteers will be spending their “day off” volunteering their time at a local construction site and at Habitat ReStores in Utah County. HABITAT CELEBRATING NATIONAL RADON ACTION MONTH Habitat for Humanity of Utah County is working with the Utah Cancer Action Network, Utah County Health Depart-ment, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to encourage community members to test their homes for ra-don during January's National Radon Action Month. Habi-tat will be providing information about radon and offering radon test kits for $6.00 at its ReStores in Orem and Span-ish Fork. Test kits are also available online at www.habitatuc.org. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. High lev-els of indoor radon have been found in many areas of Utah. Because radon is a colorless, odorless gas that occurs natu-rally in soil and rocks through the breakdown of uranium, testing is the only way to know the radon level in a home. If test results are 4.0 pico liters or above, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recom-mends that the homeowners install a radon mitigation system. A list of certified mitigators is available at the Utah County Health Department in Provo. Additionally, Habitat for Humanity of Utah County currently builds all of its new homes Radon Resistant and installs mitigation systems in all renovation homes. In January, Habitat will be providing free test kits for all current Habitat homeowners in the area and encouraging them to test their homes. For further questions regarding radon, contact Andrea Jensen at 801-851-7509 or at andreaj@utahcounty.gov. You can also visit the DEQ website, at www.radon.utah.gov.

January 2014

2 W h a t ’s U p • Get your home ready for the New Year! Check out the deeply discounted new and used building ma-

terials, appliances and furniture at the Habitat ReStores in Utah County. Details and locations at www.habitatuc.org/donate/restore/.

• Habitat’s Cars for Homes program takes the hassle out of donating your old vehicle. Start your donation or learn more at www.habitatuc.org/habitat_car_donations.html.

• Recycle all the cans from your New Year’s parties and help us provide a “hand up” to families in need of safe and affordable housing in our community! Details and drop off locations listed at www.habitatuc.org/donate/gogreen.html.

• Stay up to date with all the local Habitat happenings! Habitat for Humanity of Utah County has adopted a new texting platform called txtCloud that will allow our local Habitat affiliate to keep you up to date on what is happening at the organization - including volunteer opportunities, events, ReStore inven-tory arrivals, and much more! We would like to invite you to join Habitat’s Cloud. Using your phone, text UCHabitat to CLOUD or 25683. You will be asked three questions - your zip code, your gender and the year you were born. You are now ready to keep up to date with what is happening at your local Habitat affiliate. We know your phone is sacred space. Spam is not allowed. Check it out and see how it works - you may opt out anytime!

• Check out Habitat’s FUNSAVER Site! Habitat for Humanity has partnered with VP Deals to get all the latest bargains on local products/venues. Check out this week’s FUNSAVER specials at www.habitatucdeals.info. A portion of your “fun” purchases will help Habitat further its housing mission in the community.

• Have you tested your home for radon yet? – Habitat is working with the Utah Cancer Action Network, Utah County Health Department, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to encourage com-munity members to test their homes for radon. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, caus-ing an estimated 22,000 deaths of year in the United States. Habitat offers test kits at the Orem ReStore or online for just $6.00! Learn more at www.habitatuc.org/radon_awareness.html.

• Need tools for your winter projects? Stop by Habitat for Humanity of Utah County’s tool lending library and “check out” needed tools and lawn care items for free. New tools have been added recently. The lending library, located inside the Habitat ReStore at 340 South Orem Blvd., Orem, is open Monday through Saturday from 10-6. An application and proof of residency are required. Look online at www.habitatuc.org for more information.

• Work in the Orem or Spanish Fork ReStores Monday through Saturday from 10-6

• Assist with Habitat Recycling efforts. • Graphic designers needed to help with monthly

Daily Herald Ad and other graphic design needs.

V o l u n t e e r O p p o r t u n i t i e s

JANUARY BUILD DAYS Volunteers are currently being sought to help with construction, renovation, critical home repair, and beautification projects. Build days are now held Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Sign up online at www.habitatuc.org/volunteer.

CREW LEADERS AND SITE HOSTS NEEDED TO HELP GUIDE CONSTRUCTION

Volunteers with construction experience or those wanting to improve their construction skills are being sought to participate in the affiliate's Crew Leader and Site Host Programs. Orientations are monthly. The next orientation will be on Saturday, January 11, 2014, at the Habitat office in Orem. For information, contact LeAnn at the number or email below.

JANUARY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

For more information, look online at www.habitatuc.org or contact LeAnn at (801) 368-2250 or leann@habitatuc.org. You can also sign up online at www.habitat.org/volunteer.

VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT TO SERVE ON COMMITTEES

Volunteers are needed to serve on all of Habitat’s local committees. Monthly meetings, limited time commitment, no experience necessary, varying interests and skills. Look online at www.habitatuc.org/volunteer/committees.html for more information and meeting times.

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H o m e M a in t en a n c e C l a s s es

HOUSEHOLD HINT (www.hints-n-tips.com) Clogged Toilet? Easy ways to unblock it

A few ideas from plumbers who routinely solve this rather nasty problem. When you tackle the job make sure you spread some old newspapers around the base of the bowl to minimize the effects of 'splash back', use old clothes or overalls - and rubber gloves are a must. Afterwards carefully wash all non-disposable soiled items. Educating the younger family members as to what is to be flushed and what is not is also a very good idea and can often help prevent the unhappy situation aris-ing in the first place. Hot water will help clear the blockage but using boiling water can cause the bowl to crack or break, add a bit at a time, gradually building up. The Plunger

Get yourself a good one, the puny or floppy ones really do not do a good job. You want a good seal so bigger is usually better. When using a plunger it is better to suck than to push, so make sure there is enough water to cover the the plunger (hot, soapy water is best) and use gentle movements to avoid splashes.

Rodding - Use an Auger Sometimes referred to as a snake, this is the plumber's solution. They can be surprisingly cheap and are by far the most effective method. You may be tempted to use an uncoiled wire coat hanger but they are often too short and will mark the porcelain. Select one that looks as if it can do the job. Some de-vices are designed specifically for unblocking pans, others are more suitable for industrial use, and a cheap one advertised on the internet uses an electric drill to supply the rotation! The head of most augers are designed to grab or break up the material causing the clog so if you are using the 'grab type' it is sometimes possible to actually extract the offending material. Chemicals If you have used the above methods without success then it is usually time to send for a plumber, however you may wish to use some of the proprietary unblock-ing agents. They are quite effective but are expensive and damage the environment, both in the manufactur-ing process and in their use. Plumbers Finding a good plumber is not always easy, ask a friend or neighbor if they know a good one. If you do find one that does a good job, then treat him (or her) well and keep their phone number for the next time.

H o m e M a in t en a n c e T ip s (February 2013 Marketwatch Newsletter)

Three Great Winter Projects • Change your furnace filter. • Insulate your water pipes. You can insulate pipes by wrapping them with several layers of newspaper and

duct tape or you can buy pipe insulation made of foam or other materials. The cost is minimal, typically around 30 cents per foot.

• Dye-test your toilet. Put five drops of food coloring in your toilet’s tank, wait 10 minutes and see if the color comes into the bowl. If it does, you know you have a leak. The most common cause for a leak is a defective flapper (the rubber mechanism that allows water to exit the tank when you flush. That 10 minutes of your time could end up saving you a lot of money on your water bill.

Check out Habitat & Community Action’s Free Home Maintenance Course. The next class will be Wednes-day, January 29, 2014. The topics are: Basic Plumbing Repairs. Classes begin at 6:30 p.m. and are held at the Habitat office at 340 South Orem Blvd., Orem.

At HOME DEPOT – Registration is necessary. Call store or register online. Look online for the January clinic schedule at www.homedepot.com. At LOWE'S - you must sign up for How-To Clinics by calling 229-1485 or stopping by their store at 140 West Uni-versity Parkway in Orem. Look online for January clinic schedule at www.lowes.com. At CENTRAL UTAH GARDENS – Registration is necessary. Look online for upcoming classes at www.centralutahgardens.org/classes_events_concerts.aspx

4 SAVING TIP (www.bankrate.com) Start, or boost, your emergency savings account. Fewer than 1 in 4 Americans have an adequate emergency savings cushion, and an alarming 27 percent have no emergency savings at all, so the majority of people need to heed this tip. Since the biggest barrier to saving is not being in the habit of saving, the best way to get in the habit is to pay yourself first. Have money directly deposited from your paycheck or even your checking account into a dedicated savings ac-count. This can be done concurrently with other goals such as paying down debt or saving for retirement, not in-stead of those goals. You won't miss what you don't see, and putting your savings on autopilot is a great way to reinforce the savings habit when unplanned expenses inevitably come along and chew a hole in what you've saved. You're only one paycheck away from beginning to replenish your savings balance.

S a v in g s S t ra t eg ies (The Simple Dollar)

Figure Out Exactly What You Saved Over the final ten days of this year, we’re going to finish off this series by looking at ten tactics that demonstrate how you can transform all of the little savings you’re getting from frugality into life-affirming changes. The first step, though, is figuring out how much all of these frugal changes is actually saving you. Whenever I make a frugal change in my life, I want to directly see my return on investment. I want to know exactly how much I’m saving because of this move and whether that change was worth it. For example, let’s say I make a batch of my homemade laundry soap. I can make fifty loads’ worth of laundry detergent for about $1.12 and fifteen minutes of effort. At the same time, I can buy about fifty loads’ worth of Tide at the store for roughly $8. I’ll save $7 on that exchange while investing about 15 minutes of effort. If I do that six times in a given year, I’ll have saved $42 on laundry detergent over the course of that year (along with an hour and a half of effort, spread out over the year). Given the performance of the homemade soap, I’d happily say it’s worth it. So, I’ll add that $42 to the list. How much am I saving by switching my gas purchases to Sam’s Club? $25 a year, let’s say. How much am I sav-ing by cooking my own beans at home roughly once a week instead of buying cans? $40 a year, let’s say. You set your thermostat two degrees higher in the summer and two degrees lower in the winter and you find that you’re saving about $20 per energy bill, or $240 per year. Whatever tactics you choose to use, if you keep track of what they save you, you’ll find that they really start to add up. I highly recommend estimating annual savings from your frugal choices, then adding those savings up. You’ll directly see how much your choices are actually saving you, and you’ll probably be surprised as to how much it is. Now, take that money and apply it to genuine change in your life. Keep living your life as you live it now, but use that money to pay off debts, to build up an emergency fund, and to start saving for retirement. As the debts fall away, you’ll have fewer and fewer bills and thus more money to use to target other debts. When emergencies happen, you no longer have to rely on credit cards to fix the situation and can use an emergency fund to handle it, saving you from even more debt and even more interest lost to the banks. Those little changes you make at home are the catalyst for all of these things. The first step is to see how much impact those little changes really have, then resolve to take that money and use it to create real lasting change in your life.

BE CAREFUL (www.thetipsbank.com) Principles of Personal Safety • Be Aware and Suspicious • Avoid Routine • Be Methodical

• Have Good Communications • Use Common Sense and Initiative • Be Flexible

5 B e G o o d T o Y o ur H ea l t h (www.boston.com0

New Year Health Tips Wear a pedometer. New research suggests that routinely wearing a pedometer encourages people to walk about an extra mile each day, lose weight, and lower their blood pressure. Aim for at least 30 minutes of brisk walking and a total of 10,000 steps per day. Don't forget strength training, involving both the upper and lower body. Too many people neglect resistance ex-ercise, particularly women for whom it's crucial for preventing muscle and bone loss with age. Lift weights for at least 20 minutes, two- to three-times per week. Drink water. No matter where you are, water should always be the first thing you reach for when you're thirsty. Wa-ter truly is essential. Sleep 8 hours a night. A number of recent studies have confirmed that you really do need at least 8 hours a night. Among the many benefits: Adequate sleep makes you feel better, decreases risk for cardiovascular disease, boosts memory and reduces the likelihood of being in a car accident. Keep sugar and caffeine -- the "legal evils" -- to a minimum. It's hard to believe, but decreasing sugar actually increases people's energy, by minimizing the highs and lows that sweet foods triggers. Different people react differ-ently to caffeine, but most of us are probably overstimulated already -- adding a stimulant just adds to things like road rage. Don't focus on dieting. Focus on eating. If you're hungry, you're more likely to overeat, especially in the evening. Instead, of sacrificing all day and gorging later, it's better to eat enough during the day to avoid hunger pangs and uncontrolled eating at night. Eat every four hours or so, and make sure to eat a "second lunch" -- think of it as an-other meal rather than a snack -- in the mid-afternoon to keep your energy up and make you less hungry in the eve-ning. Budget your food as you do your money. A rough guideline for daily caloric intake: Multiply your ideal body weight by 10 (i.e., 1,200 calories if you want to weigh 120 pounds) and then add another 600 calories if you're mod-erately active, a few hundred more if you're very active. Divide those calories out across the day to keep yourself well fed.

Community Action Services offers Home Buyer Education Classes on a monthly basis. Classes in January will be held January 8 and 9, 2014 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and January 25, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. To register, please call (801) 691-5200 or go online to www.communityactionuc.org. The Utah Valley University Turning Point Program sponsors the Professional Clothing Source providing donated professional clothing for women as they re-enter school and/or the workforce. Available by appointment only at (801) 863-7580.

RE S O U RCE S

Benefits of Homeownership Homeownership Benefits Physical Health Homeownership contributes to a family’s physical wellbeing and to chil-dren’s development health. Studies indicate that people who live in fam-ily-owned homes have greater advantages than than those who live in rented homes or who are periodically homeless.

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April Crossley Brad Simons Brent Jensen Bruce Snow BYU Habitat for Humanity Chapter Carol Day Cascade Shadows Century Link Cort Trejo and YSA Ward Dave and Laksmi Dominguez Dynamic Structures Elisabeth Trim Gene Bramhall Gordon Case Excavation Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors IM Flash It’s a Wrap Volunteers Jeanne Walker Joel and Alane Kester John Roberts Jonathan Mecham Kenneth Masteller Les and Erma Simpson

Thank You Noorda Family, John Roberts,

IM Flash Provo Towne Centre

Magelby Construction Martin and Jayne Kearl Mary Kae Blair Mathew Whiting Noorda Family Provo Towne Centre Response Marketing Group Shiree Thurston Sonya Hess Stephen Benedict Stan and Stella Welsh Susan Chasson TD Ameritrade The Noorda Family The Ruttenbur Family The Shumway Group The Utah Trading Company TRI- Architecture Utah County Health Department UVU Habitat for Humanity Chapter William Clark Zions Bank

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Of Utah County

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 —Development Services —NRI

8 9—Site Selection —Family Partnership

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12 13 14—Building 15—Board 16 17 18

19—Executive 20—Martin

Luther King Day—Martin Luther Day On Event

21—Building Resources 22 23 24 25—UVU

No Snow Indoor 5K

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Development Services January 7, 2014 Noon Office NRI January 7, 2014 3:00 p.m. Office Site Selection January 9, 2014 Noon Office Family Partnership January 9, 2014 6:30 p.m. Office Executive January 19, 2014 7:30 a.m. Office Building January 14, 2014 2:00 p.m. Central Bank Board January 15, 2014 7:00 a.m. Office Martin Luther King Day January 20, 2014 Office Closed Martin Luther Day On Event January 20, 2014 Building Resources January 21, 2014 7:00 a.m. Office UVU No Snow Indoor 5K January 25, 2014 9:00 a.m. UVU Centre Stage