Humanity

The next event in Habitat for Humanity Maryland's public awareness campaign, "Building Homes, Rebuilding Lives," will be held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. July 16 at the Laurel Park Carriage Room. Money raised by the event will help the 18 affiliates of Habitat for Humanity in Maryland achieve their goal of completing 1,000 houses by 2008. Tickets are $45. Patrons pay $75, and sponsorship opportunities range from $100 to $7,500. Laurel Park Carriage Room is at Route 198 and Race Track Road.

An art auction, a locally sponsored wine tasting and a beer sampling from the Fordham Micro Brewery will highlight a fund-raiser Saturday night for Arundel Habitat for Humanity. The event will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville. Funds will be used to help eliminate substandard housing in Anne Arundel County. The cost per ticket is $35 and may be purchased online at www.arundelhabitat.org, at the door, or by calling 410-384-9212, Ext. 10. Arundel Habitat for Humanity has built more than 57 houses over the past 16 years for low-income families and is seeking to build 50 more over the next decade.

Donnetta LeGrande and her daughter Michelle, 18, are preparing to pack up their Westview apartment and move into a newly refurbished home in Northeast Baltimore's Better Waverly area. But first, they have to help clean the house.LeGrande is the first person in the country to benefit from a new national partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Nehemiah Progressive Housing, two nonprofit groups that provide housing for low-income families.Members of the two organizations joined LeGrande in beginning to gut her future home in the 2900 block of Independence St. yesterday, as Nehemiah's $1 million contribution to the joint program was announced, marking the partnership's national beginning.

The Harford Habitat for Humanity has a dedicated staff, eager volunteers and contractors willing to donate, but finding affordable building lots in the rapidly growing county has often stymied the nonprofit group's efforts to provide homeownership to needy families. After an announcement Friday by Aberdeen Mayor S. Fred Simmons, land may no longer be a hurdle for the organization. City officials will exact a toll on developers who will profit from Aberdeen's expected building boom during the next 15 years, when thousands of military families move to the area as part of the national base realignment.

Substandard housing: The concept sounds abstract until you wake up one night, as Sonia Moore did, and find your 18-month-old daughter sharing her crib with a rat.It happened in the first place Sonia Moore could call her own, a shabby $285-a-month rowhouse rental on Baker Street in West Baltimore's Sandtown neighborhood."

The Celestine Prophecy posits that humanity will evolve to a whole new level, if only we let it. Letting it involves trusting our hunches, not trying to steal each other's "energy" and staring determinedly at people and objects, the better to understand their place in the cosmic scheme of things. And by the way, if you stare hard enough, you'll be able to hide in plain sight - a handy trick when you're being pursued by government death squads. The Celestine Prophecy (Celestine Films) Starring Matthew Settle, Annabeth Gish, Hector Elizondo.

Investigators have ruled that Monday's fire, which damaged Howard County's first Habitat for Humanity house in Columbia, was an accident. Bill Mould, a spokesman for the county Department of Fire and Rescue Services, said the fire started in the kitchen when combustible materials near a stove ignited. The fire caused extensive charring and smoke and water damage to the interior of the house, but no one was injured. Mould said the damage was estimated at $100,000. Habitat for Humanity, a faith-based housing group, spent three years planning and eight months constructing the house.

THERE IS A dark side to Anne Arundel's glittering, post-World War II transformation from a largely rural backwater to an increasingly sophisticated county. As the population has skyrocketed, rising housing prices have made it difficult for many families of limited means to find affordable shelter.Consider the case of Larry and Sharon Taylor. With eight children, ages 3 to 11, the Taylors, who run their own cleaning business, are a low-income family. They live in a rented Severn townhouse.

The Justice Department's third highest-ranking official toured part of West Baltimore yesterday, the first stop in a nationwide campaign aimed at forging ties between Habitat for Humanity and federal law enforcement.Raymond C. Fisher, associate attorney general, spent about three hours at the Sandtown Habitat for Humanity office and projects, talking to organization officials and homeowners. It was his first Habitat visit. But he said Attorney General Janet Reno has made several visits and thought it was worth pursuing a relationship with the group.

Donnetta LeGrande and her daughter Michelle, 18, are preparing to pack up their Westview apartment and move into a newly refurbished home in Northeast Baltimore's Better Waverly area. But first, they have to help clean the house.LeGrande is the first person in the country to benefit from a new national partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Nehemiah Progressive Housing, two nonprofit groups that provide housing for low-income families.Members of the two organizations joined LeGrande in beginning to gut her future home in the 2900 block of Independence St. yesterday, as Nehemiah's $1 million contribution to the joint program was announced, marking the partnership's national beginning.