It’s not cheap, but it’s available almost everywhere today. It’s not that difficult to build houses to run a blueprint through a conveyor belt and give people four walls and a roof. They take the time to understand the needs of the homeowner, and demonstrate the necessary investment to care for those needs. Habitat forms relationships with their homeowners. It’s a place where they can find fellowship and freedom. It’s a place where they can find respite and revitalization. For many of our homeowners, the structure we build together is a place where their families can be safe.
Withers, a house is where he lives, but a home is where he and this woman who brought sunshine to his life could be together. Perhaps Bill Withers put it best when he sang, “And this house just ain’t no home, anytime she goes away.” There is a distinct difference between a house and a home. This being the first installment in the series, I want to start by looking at the first object of Habitat’s missional building: homes. With my final three blog posts as this year’s Greater Indy Habitat YAV, that’s precisely what I want to do. But if one really takes the time to dissect and consider the pieces of it, they may realize there’s more to it than initially appears.
I don’t think most people with a passing familiarity with Habitat would be surprised by anything in it. “Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.” That was before I’d ever heard their mission statement, and more significantly, before I became a small part of the mission in that statement. In my mind, at that time, Habitat was just a particularly generous construction crew. If I had asked myself the same question a year ago – a clichéd premise, I know – I probably would have seconded Mikey as well. My friend Mikey, responding in a group chat in which I’d posed the question, said that they “build houses for low-income families.” Moments later, another friend in that group posted, “I second Mikey.” “Helps habitate humans?” my brother, who studied linguistics, suggested. So, in trying to begin to reflect on how my experience here has influenced my understanding of service, I recently asked a few friends how they would describe Habitat’s work. In a “year-long” volunteer program that actually only lasts eleven months, I already have ten elevenths of what is meant to be a life-altering program on which to reflect, and I’m not sure where to start. I’ve been with Greater Indy Habitat for ten months now. Learn more about the YAV program! Mission Part 1: Homes Jonathan is a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) spending his service year with Greater Indy Habitat through the Presbyterian Church (USA). He is currently reprising the role in the Broadway production, which opened in March 2014 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, and he is the only actor from the original cast of the animated film to do so.A Look Back: Homes By Jonathan Freeman | Volunteer | He was also seen on stage as Cogsworth in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and originated the role of Grimsby in Disney's Broadway production of The Little Mermaid.įreeman reprised his role as Jafar in the Hercules crossover with Aladdin.įreeman began his run starring as Admiral Boom and the Bank Chairman in the Broadway production of Mary Poppins on December 12, 2009.įreeman also reprises his role as Jafar on stage in the new musical adaptation of Aladdin, which played at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre from July 7–31, 2011. Additionally, he appeared in the Broadway revival productions of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Producers, On the Town, and 42nd Street, during which his caricature was drawn for Sardi's restaurant in 2002.įreeman can be heard on the 1997 Varèse Sarabande studio recording of the flop 1965 musical Drat! The Cat!. In 1994, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in She Loves Me. Freeman reprised his role as Jafar in the direct-to-video sequel to Aladdin, The Return of Jafar. As well as being the voice of Jafar in Aladdin, a role he once said he's called in to reprise every 3 to 6 months, Freeman is also known for being the performer of Tito Swing of the Jukebox Band (Flexitoon Puppets) on the PBS series Shining Time Station. Freeman was born in Bay Village, Ohio on February 5, 1950.