WEEK IN REVIEW: You'll love Louisville

By Chris Johnson,
Director of Communications

Last April I visited Louisville, Kentucky, for the very first time. My knowledge of the place was limited to having watching the great Louisville basketball team, a few Kentucky Derbies and swinging a Louisville Slugger baseball bat or two.

And while I was there, I saw where the Louisville football and basketball teams play, saw Churchill Downs and even the Louisville Slugger museum — although I didn’t actually go into any of these. But other than those well-trodden sites, I expected it to be just another city.

But it most definitely is not. You can see it in the faces of strangers on the street, you can see it throughout the Shawnee neighborhood which The Fuller Center of Louisville has resurrected and you can see it from the top officials to the homeless on the street. Folks in Louisville care.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has been on a mission since Day 1 on the job to make Louisville the “Most Compassionate City in America” and I believe he might already have achieved that goal. That compassionate attitude has spread throughout the city and led to scores of improvements, including in the area of housing.

But, there is no perfect city, and Louisville still has its problems, including in the area of housing. Fortunately, The Fuller Center for Housing is leading the way in addressing those problems and has great support from people throughout the city and from city officials.

You have a chance to be a part of this great atmosphere and to help Louisville address these problems at the 2014 Millard Fuller Legacy Build April 6-11. I’ll be there, and probably 200 other volunteers will be there, too. And thanks to a $220,000 grant from Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, volunteers are sure to have everything they need to make this build a huge success.

Louisville needs you to get registered as soon as possible. A few dozen have registered early, and that’s great. However, if the vast majority wait til the last second to sign up, that complicates planning for the build, and it’s a complication the good folks in Louisville don’t need.

If you sign up before the end of December, you get a $25 discount off the normal registration rate. So, please join us in Louisville and let us know as soon as possible that you’re on your way!

Click here to register for the build!