One Nation

Tacoma and Pierce County, Wa. residents gathered Aug. 8 to celebrate the end of a one-year interfaith home building project completed through the collaboration of local philanthropists, green building experts, interfaith leaders and Habitat for Humanity.

The "Under One Roof" interfaith home dedication in Tacoma’s Larabee Terrace neighborhood came after four months of building by Habitat for Humanity — skilled and unskilled volunteers from local faith communities including Muslims, Christians, Jews and members of Native American spiritual traditions.

The new homeowner is Noe Gabriel and his family of five. The family is of Mexican descent and includes four children.

"My wife and I are so thankful that this project was a success because I wanted a house for so long,"

Gabriel said at the dedication, "Thank you for helping and trusting in us." Gabriel said that he was not only a new homeowner, but now familiar with the building process because Habitat for Humanity's model includes the family fully in all parts of the house’s construction and interior decoration.

"I'm very emotional and excited and happy that you have helped our family and if you ever need me, I can help with other houses," he said to the crowd outside of the new home.

One Nation's CEO, Henry Izumizaki, announced at the dedication that the new home was just one of hundreds that are expected to be built across the country. He said broad-based philanthropic support would advance the creation of well-networked multicultural communities that reflect America’s current and future demographic trends that show exponential increases in minority community populations.

"We are going to build 16-20 more homes in Pierce County, if not more, and we are committed to spreading this model not just throughout Pierce County, but nationally," he said.

The project began in April of last year when One Nation, a national philanthropic initiative that promotes religious pluralism and inclusion in America, approached Habitat for Humanity’s Tacoma/Pierce County affiliate. At that time, One Nation was looking for ways to bring people of diverse faith backgrounds together to build a model for trust-building that created greater community cohesion. One Nation chose to develop their model in Pierce County, where they are based.

The idea of building interfaith relationships through service and cultural events to achieve this goal emerged and One Nation partnered with its sister philanthropic institution, The Russell Family Foundation, and the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate to build a house that brought people of diverse faith backgrounds together to help a low-income family own a home in which they could raise their children and into which they could eventually retire.

"Habitat has the convening power to bring together diverse communities to work together with common purpose for the common good," said Maureen Fife, CEO of the Pierce County Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

To ensure that the home-building process brought diverse faith partners together to build the house and provide support for the community-building initiative, One Nation and Habitat developed an interfaith steering committee that included Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Native American religious institutions such as Associated Ministries, Church of the Indian Fellowship, Temple Beth El and Tacoma's Islamic Education and Community Center. Faith communities from Seattle were also involved including the Ismaili Muslim community in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.

The steering committee helped develop stronger relationships among the different faith communities found in Pierce County because events were created to allow for greater dialogue and interaction including an interfaith Seder dinner held at Temple Beth El, comedy night featuring Muslim, Jewish and Christian comedians and a Salmon Bake organized by the local Native American community.

To build an ethic of interfaith cooperation and understanding among young people from the faith communities involved, activities were held including a community garden stone-making workshop. At this workshop, campers at an interfaith camp created stones for the new home’s community garden. The stones were adorned with symbols representing the campers' respective faiths and also the larger theme of religious pluralism.

Building upon a national trend toward "green" building, funding for the new home specified that it be built with environmentally friendly materials and harness sustainable energy sources, which has helped inform the new homeowner and building volunteers about environmentally sustainable building.

The Larabee Terrace development will have 12 homes and house over 40 children. Other cultures represented in the community are American, Sudan, Vietnamese, African American, and Guamanian.

"The real strength in our community is appreciating our diverse citizens and the gifts that each individual has to share," Fife said. "You can live right next door to your neighbor and never get to know them. The Interfaith Build has given us the rare opportunity to share our rich history and faith perspectives, cultural celebrations and traditions. We celebrate our similarities as well as our differences."

Posted August 20, 2009