2008 Affiliate President Conference Call Schedule Posted Calls will be held from 12:00 to 1:00 PM on the Thursday prior to the Board of Directors meetings/calls. 2008 Board of Directors Meeting Schedule Posted Family to Family Teacher calls: 2nd Wednesday of the month. If you would like to be on the call, please contact Lisa Moore at lmoore @namitexas.org.

News from Our Affiliates

NAMI Dallas Helps to Build Two Houses for Families Touched by Mental Illness

NAMI Dallas and MHA representatives joined in the October 2, 2004 opening ceremony for two "builds" on Chinkapin Way in Greenleaf Village in west Dallas. They met the precious single mother who will live in one of the houses being built. She has five children and hopes to be in their new home by Christmas. We assured her that she was not "all alone" and we invited her to meet our large and caring NAMI family. She looked so relieved, and said she would come to one of our meetings. Funds for building her home were provided by Comcast.

October 2, 2004 was Comcast Cares Day nationwide. Thirty thousand Comcast employees worked on 200 projects across the country. In the Dallas area, Comcast employees partnered with Habitat for Humanity to work on the Greenleaf Village home, and they refurbished Tyler Elementary School in the same neigh-borhood. Norm Wilbur, Executive Director of Dallas Habitat for Humanity, said the Comcast home is the 400th home built by Habitat for the Humanity in the Dallas area. Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity is the seventh largest builder in Dallas and ranks sixth in homebuild-ing among U.S. Habitat for Humanity affiliates. The Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity is an ecumenical housing ministry in partnership with families, volunteers and others, building commu-nities of hope, dignity, and self-worth through the construction of quality, affordable housing and the nurture of decent, safe neighborhoods. Their goal is to eradicate substandard low-income housing in Dallas County.

Park Cities Presbyterian Church and Capital One provided funds for this sec-ond house which is located two houses away on Chinkapin Way.

NAMI Dallas is fortunate to have such grand VIPs (Very Important Partners) as Habitat for Humanity, Comcast, Park Cities Presbyterian Church, Capital One and MHA of Greater Dallas! Volunteers worked on one or both of the "build" days. Work days ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a half hour off for lunch. At the beginning of the day, volunteers were trained in the skills required for a task. Volunteers were scheduled for full or half days. Three release forms were required to be signed and forms were provided ahead of time so volunteers could read them and have them signed when they arrived at the work site on work day.