Church holds raffle/dinner fundraisers to help Habitat for Humanity

FANCY DIGS--This luxury playhouse, featuring a TV, refrigerator and working lights, is being raffled off as a fundraiser item for Habitat for Humanity. The miniature dwelling can be seen at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in the Westlake Village portion of T.O., just west of Lindero Canyon Road. The luxury playhouse going on display today at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Westlake Village is part of a major fundraising effort by the congregation to help provide affordable housing.

The playhouse is being raffled off with all proceeds benefiting Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit ecumenical Christian housing ministry that has built 200,000 low-income homes worldwide.

The raffle is in conjunction with a fundraising dinner at the church at 6:30 p.m. on Sat., April 8. All funds from the dinner will go toward Habitat for Humanity.

The elaborate playhouse, called the Boogie Woogie Beach House, includes bunk beds, electricity, a television, refrigerator and lights.

The structure was decorated by a professional designer and has a chimney and Dutch door. A four-man team took more than 800 hours to build the house.

The playhouse will remain at St. Max until after Easter, when it will be moved to the Pacific View Mall in Ventura, and then be exhibited at the Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks where the winning ticket will be chosen on June 3.

Tickets are $10 each, $50 for seven tickets, or $100 for 15.

Cost of the benefit dinner is $45 and the meal will include steak, teriyaki chicken, grilled vegetables, noodles and salad, as well as cakes and homemade cookies.

Entertainment will be provided by two members of the youth choir, Kaitlin Toomayan and Hailey Johnson, accompanied on the piano by Confirmation and Youth Minister Gary Beckley.

A silent auction will feature restaurant gift certificates, golf merchandise, timeshare rentals in Hawaii, Lake Tahoe and Mexico, and more.

A family with seven children recently moved into a Habitat for Humanity home in Piru, and will speak at the dinner. "They are going to talk about how their new home has changed their lives," said Tim Schutz, dinner co-chair with Maureen Hamilton. He was also on the team that created the playhouse.

Schutz is one of 140 St. Max members who have helped build Habitat for Humanity homes for several few years. He was part of a group that built 22 affordable homes in Piru over a seven-year period that ended in November.

Schutz is now working on six Habitat homes in Oxnard. The homes are usually about 1,180 square feet and include three or four bedrooms and two baths, he said.

"The families that get these homes are just beside themselves," Schutz said. "You really feel good about it."

The congregation's goal is to raise $50,000, half of the cost to build a home. Last year's dinner raised $23,000, according to Schutz.

"People are very energized and enthusiastic to help," Schutz said.

To purchase playhouse raffle tickets or dinner tickets, call the church office at (818) 991-3915.