Photos from President Carter's Visit to Hawthorne

Post and photos by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council housing director.  Group photo above taken by Pat Carney.

More photos from the day of President Carter's visit to Hawthorne after the jump...

Photos from Day 1 of Habitat Week

The first volunteers of the week!

At the beginning of the week, there was only a foundation at 430 30th Ave N.

Post and photos by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council housing director.

A technical, editorial note:  Blogger is acting up and only allowing one photo at a time to upload.  Posts therefore are coming in more slowly than I'd like due to time constraints with other job duties.

More photos after the jump...

Photos from the Habitat Week Opening Ceremony

Post and photos by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council housing director.

More photos after the jump...

Video Footage from Habitat Week Closing Ceremonies

Post and videos by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council housing director; videos with Jeff Skrenes in them contributed by Habitat staff or volunteers.

With such an extraordinary month, capped off by thousands of volunteers and a visit from  President Carter, Hawthorne still has photos and videos to share from the events of the Habitat week.  Above are several videos from the final day of work.

Former HNC board chair Peter Teachout asked for a statement of his to be read at one of the final events, and I obliged.  Some people have said that the sound quality on that video makes it difficult to hear.  In response, I've posted Peter's speech after the jump.  Peter said...

Press Coverage from Habitat Week in the EcoVillage

Post by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council housing director.  Photo by Pat Carney.

After the rousing success of last week, and the spotlight that President Carter's visit has shined on the Hawthorne EcoVillage, I thought I'd try and collect as much of the media coverage we received and put it all in one place so that Hawthorne members, NoMi residents, and others can easily access these terrific stories.  I've tried to be as complete as possible, but have excluded some items.  For instance, TV stations and newspapers in Duluth, Fargo, and LaCrosse all picked up this story but only published brief blurbs that offer no new material.  The same goes for newspapers, TV stations, and websites/blogs in other cities where Habitat and the Carters did work last week.  They may have mentioned Minneapolis or the EcoVillage, but only in passing.

NoMi photographer extraordinaire Pat Carney took the above photo, although a similar one may be available on the Habitat website in the near future.  Pat also has an excellent photo album of the Carters' visit on his website.

The other media coverage we've received is listed after the jump...

Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.com/local/104425463.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/104457523.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUbPi87EK_g:D_GD7EaDh_0c:aD:aUr

http://www.startribune.com/local/104267628.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU


http://www.startribune.com/local/104249733.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU

Pioneer Press

http://www.twincities.com/ci_16237132?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com&nclick_check=1

http://www.twincities.com/ci_16272519?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com

kstp

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S1777808.shtml?cat=0

wcco

http://wcco.com/politics/jimmy.carter.habitat.2.1948871.html

fox 9

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/Jimmy-and-Rosalynn-Carter-Work-Project-oct-5-2010

City of Minneapolis

https://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/news/20101006newsmayor_carterecovillage.asp

Minnpost

http://www.minnpost.com/steveberg/2010/10/04/21997/extreme_makeover_hawthorne_ecovillage_transforms_tough_north_side_patch_awaits_carter_visit_this_week


http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2010/10/06/22127/jimmy_carter_heads_the_political_star_power_at_twin_cities_habitat_for_humanity_project

Twin Cities Daily Planet

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/10/06/jimmy-carter-visits-hawthorne-ecovillage

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/10/07/hope-back-twin-cities-jimmy-carter-and-big-plans-ahead-habitat-building

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/10/04/one-week-26-twin-cities-homes-jimmy-and-rosalynn-carter-work-project

The Uptake

http://theuptake.org/2010/10/07/jimmy-carter-habitat-for-humanity-build-homes-in-twin-cities/

Kare 11

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=876035&catid=391

Irving Inquisition

http://www.irvinginquisition.com/2010/10/jimmy-rosalynn-carter-work-project-2010.html

Minnesota Daily

http://www.mndaily.com/2010/10/07/carter-aims-revitalize-n-mpls

If readers have other links that we've missed, please use the comment section or email me at jskrenes@hawthorneneighborhoodcouncil.org.

Sondra Samuels, Keynote Speaker for HNC Annual Dinner

Post by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Housing Director. Video by Megan Goodmundson/NoMi Passenger.

At the Hawthorne Neighborhood annual dinner on September 30, 2010, we were honored to have Sondra Samuels as our keynote speaker. Her excellent comments about what it means to live in community with one another were truly appreciated, and we thank Sondra for all she does for north Minneapolis.

Habitat Luncheon with President Carter in the EcoVillage (part 3 of video footage)

Post and videos by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Housing Director

There will be time to explain in more detail the events of the week, but for now, we want to make the video footage available to everyone. Two things should be pointed out, however. First, President Carter once again praised Hawthorne for being the best neighborhood he's worked in. And second, a slight slip of the tongue by our Mayor needs to be corrected. He accidentally called Valeria, a long-term resident of the EcoVillage "Russian." Valeria is POLISH and darn proud of it. We're grateful for the commitment and hard work of Rybak, but for the sake of Valeria's Polish pride, we have to make that correction here.

President Carter: "We've Never Worked in a Nicer Neighborhood" (part 2 of video footage)

Post and videos by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Housing Director

There are two things that stand out about these press conference videos. First, President Carter described the view from Farview Park and lauded our historic housing stock, then stated, "We've never worked in a nicer neighborhood than this one." Granted, this could be like a proud parent who tells their child, "I love you all the same," or a rock singer who whispers to his bandmates, "Which city are we in?" before stepping to the mic and declaring Minneapolis to be awesome. Still, Jimmy Carter said that Hawthorne was the nicest neighborhood he's worked in, and we get to brag about that.

Secondly, Carter is not the bragging type. Knowing that the media (and even the community) tends to focus on the star power of an ex-President, he kept on deflecting and asking if there were questions about Habitat or bringing the focus back to our community or Habitat's work. Here's a man we can admire.

Oh, and he said Hawthorne was the best. Did I mention that?

Videos of Habitat Week in Hawthorne! (part 1)

Post and videos by Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Housing Director

This has been a tremendous week for the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council, as we've had the honor of President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale working together on a Habitat project for the very first time in 27 years of Habitat for Humanity housing work done by the President and his wife.  Plenty of other media have been doing an excellent job covering the success of the EcoVillage, Hawthorne community members, and the countless volunteers who have descended upon our neighborhood.

Here at the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council, we've been so busy that we haven't had a chance to sift through all the great photos, videos, and stories of the week.  As things settle down, we'll be sure to add more content on this blog.  In the meantime, here is the first of several video posts.  The footage above is from the opening ceremonies at the Mall of America.  Senator Franken spoke and we had excellent music from the angelic Ashleigh Still and the always racuous Belfast Cowboys.