A Reflection on the Bishop Johnson Hospitality House

By Jean Willard

On Saturday, November 14, I helped with the St. Luke’s sponsored lunch of Costco turkey wraps and chicken and vegetable soups [at the Bishop Johnson Hospitality House Habitat for Humanity build]. I wandered among the volunteers to see where they were from and why they were at this particular Hospitality House build. I found folks from Sieman’s Caring Hands Group, ladies from the new Habitat Women’s Roofing Team, a gentleman in his late 40’s working on accumulating his 300 sweat equity hours for his own Habitat House, along with three other future homeowners doing the same, and two individuals who have worked on the site for the last four Saturdays and planned to return to this particular site every week until the house was completed. 

One man driving by stopped and wanted to know how he could get involved. Then a Habitat site supervisor from another nearby build who had joined us for lunch came up to me and said “this Habitat site is the most welcoming, warm and exciting site I’ve ever been to.” He then continued with great enthusiasm about the build, almost to the point of my embarrassment.

This Bob Johnson Hospitality House truly is reflecting all the warmth, love and compassion for all individuals that Bob Johnson was all about...a Hospitality House “where all are welcome, not just tolerated, but actively recruited and embraced.” It’s been such a joy for John and I to experience this build from the beginning...from the first organizational meeting when [the Rev.] Brooks Graebner first read that part of Bob’s first Address to the Convention as Bishop and to see those words coming to life through this build and the hard work of Habitat and others to honor the memory of Bishop Robert C. Johnson.

Reprinted from St. Luke's, Durham, December 2015 newsletter