Support those who support Habitat   92.5 The Chief ABC Sanitary Adams Outdoor Advertising Armstrong Cash & Carry Lumber Armstrong Lumber Babyland Bacon & Van Buskirk Boltini's Cabinetland Ltd. Cement Masons & Plasters Local #143 Champaign Do-It-Best Hardware Champaign Estate Sales Champaign Heating & Air Champaign Telephone Company City of Champaign City of Urbana County Market on Kirby Custom Flooring & Acoustics Denver Mattress Dodds Company Dow Chemical Eastland Suites eXtra 99.1 Ezell Excavating F & R Roofing Flat Top Grill Flooring Surfaces Fry Access Furniture Lounge Geocon HDC Engineering Herriott’s Party Rental Home Depot IBEW Local #601 IDSCO Illiana Insulation Illini FS International Galleries Kan-Doo Concrete Kurt B. Crail Inc. Larson Laticrete International Lowe's Lutheran Social Services Prison Partnership Maxwell Counters Meijer Menard's Mix 94.5 MX Electric Inc. Nash Crane Service Inc. New Prairie Construction Patton Lumber Peckham & Associates Pekara Bakery Prairie Central Prairie Central Materials Prairie Productions Prime Time Pizza Prudential Landmark Real Estate Ramada Ltd. RC’s Plumbing & HVAC Remco Electric Reynold's Towing RP Lumber Sam’s Drywall Sherwin Williams Smith/Burgett Architects Springfield Electric Square D St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Stevens Excavating Storage Options Solutions The Great Frame Up Thrivent Financial for Lutherans UpClose Vaspar Wal-Mart in Urbana Whirlpool Williams Business Interiors WIXY 100.3 Workout 24   You've got some great stuff!   Drop off donations are accepted any time during ReStore hours. Please pull up to the southeast garage door and ring bell for assistance. Too large for your vehicle? Schedule a donation pick up! Donation pick ups are a $5 fee in C-U, and $10 outside C-U within a 15 mile radius. Contact us at (217)355-6460 x120 or ReStore@cuhabitat.org to schedule.   Summer hours coming soon   Starting Friday, June 5 the ReStore hours will be Tuesdays - Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays from 1 - 5 p.m. Thank you to all the volunteers and customers who provided feedback on this issue. If you'd like to be involved in future surveys, please contact Eileen (director@cuhabitat.org, 217/359-0507 x111).   Interested in home ownership?   Contact Melissa Oglesby at office@cuhabitat.org or 217/359-0507 x130.   Habitat for Humanity Champaign County and ReStore   119 E. University Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 (217) 355-6460 ReStore (217) 359-0507 Administration www.cuhabitat.org	Brought to you by Champaign Telephone Co.     Mother's Day Sale Going On NoW   15% off everything in the store Friday & Saturday, May 11 & 12!! Please note: the ReStore will be closed Sunday, May 13 for Mother’s Day itself.   Treasures at the ReStore   See new items here!   Two houses are as easy as one!   Our Thrivent Builds Homes/Illini Radio Group double-build for the Allen and Dominguez families (507 and 509 E Bradley) begins with the groundbreaking is on Saturday, 19 May at 10 a.m. Please join us! The full build schedule, including tasks and needs, is listed here. If you'd like to volunteer as a crew leader, crew member or lunch provider, please contact Ellen Willcox (house@cuhabitat.org or 359-0507 x110). Due to insurance requirements, no unregistered volunteers will be allowed on site.   More than picking up a hammer   Looking to get involved but Saturdays on the build site don’t fit your schedule? We have any number of ways you can get involved with Habitat for Humanity. Volunteering with the ReStore is an ongoing opportunity that supports building homes, building relationships and building community. It can be as hands on as helping with our delivery service to as simple as collecting plastic shopping bags for the store’s use. For example, if you like speaking to groups and are passionate about Habitat, we need you! Requests come in regularly for presentations to schools, businesses and churches, groups of 5 to 100. The Faith Relations/Speakers Bureau has developed an application for Habiteers who want to make their skills available. Applicants will indicate availability, skill and audience preferences. After training and "ride-alongs," members of the speaker pool will be contacted according to their preferences. For more information, contact Eileen (director@cuhabitat.org, 217-359-0507 x111). We are also in need of fun-loving, detail oriented individuals to join our Volunteer Committee. This Committee works to recognize and thank all of our volunteers through events and other activities. Please contact either Courtney (volunteer@cuhabitat.org or 355-6460 x 116) or Ellen (house@cuhabitat.org or 359-0507 x 110) for more information. For more information about volunteering with the ReStore, please contact Courtney at volunteer@cuhabitat.org or 355-6460 x 116.   Thank you to the Prairie Rivers Network   The Sweid Family's new rain garden, thanks to the Prairie Rivers Network.   Your Home or Home Equity   …Part of your “wealth portfolio.” by Mark Middleton, Finance Manager Every year at this time, we close in towards the end of Habitat's fiscal year. We have to put down on paper a formal financial report called “The Balance Sheet” which is subject to outside audit. The balance sheet summarizes both sides of that famous equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Families, like organizations, have a balance sheet. For many families, their largest asset is their home. A large home equity balance is a good thing! However, the best investment advice anyone can offer is one word: “Diversify.” You’ve heard this wisdom before: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” This advice applies to real estate as well as other forms of investment. So given a choice between accelerating your home mortgage payoff, or an opportunity to invest hard-earned surplus of dollars somewhere else, what should you do? For that answer, you need the advice of a qualified Certified Financial Planner (CFP ® ). This is because every family’s financial position is unique, and the world of finance and associated tax consequences, is complex. Be wary and check references. Many so-called “financial advisors” are really salespersons whose fees are contingent on commissions. You do not need a financial advisor to realize that a tax-deferred 401-K or 501-C plan, or an IRA, are another investment to consider for your “long term retirement savings”, especially if your company adds in some percentage of matching savings. But even here, good investment advice is important. Depending on availability, should you keep a portion in money market funds, invest in stock mutual funds, the bond market, or diversify into foreign (international) holdings or other investment options? Once again, you should seek sound advice from a trustworthy source. Finally, remember that Jesus said we are to “lay up treasure in Heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt or thieves break in and steal.” Consider regular investment in your church or human service organization. Please consider including a bequest to Habitat for Humanity in your will.