In the Spring of 1995 a group of people from several churches and social services organizations in Midland began meeting to explore how to address the needs of homeless families in our community.  The objective was to assist with not only housing but to provide the support, guidance and resources to enable goal driven, determined families to become self sufficient Christian members of the community. 

 In August of 1995 Midland Fair Havens, Inc. was chartered in the State of Texas and regular meetings of the Board of Directors were held to develop a clearer focus on who we would serve, program details and fund raising. These early discussions resulted in the decision to limit our focus to single ladies with preadolescent children rather than the broad scope of homeless families. In the first year our initial excitement over the offer of a donation of a six unit apartment building was replaced with disappointment when we discovered the amount of back taxes due and toured the property to discover the extremely poor condition of the building. We voted on the spot to decline the donation. In mid-1997 our board connection to Golf Course Road Church of Christ resulted in the leasing of their family home on Andrews Highway just west of the church for one dollar per year. It had become obvious that an organization comprised of only a volunteer board  was moving at a snails pace toward helping the families in need that we had targeted. Fund raising efforts were stepped up and we hired DiAnn Koehl as our Executive Director in October 1997 to enable continuous progress to be made toward an operating organization. 

  In January 1998 we accepted our first mom and her two children into the program and they moved into the GCR facility which also served as DiAnn’s office. The fund raising efforts for operations continued to be successful and we filled the GCR home with four families and had to start a waiting list due to lack of additional space. In November 2000 we received the donation of a duplex followed by the loan of a single family residence to expand the serving capacity of Fair Havens. Linda Hamblin was hired in February 2001 as Program Director to allow DiAnn more time for long range planning with the Board and the constant need for fund raising. 

 Although we continued to look for existing property in Midland to acquire for a permanent facility, we became aware of the possibility of purchasing the present site which we liked due to its proximity to Midland College and the number of retail employment opportunities nearby. Negotiations were successful and we purchased the property in March 1999. Even with the property in hand, we continued to look for an existing structure that would fit our needs but each prospect revealed unacceptable aspects when we got into the details. The Board was becoming more and more convinced that God was leading us to build on the property we had purchased and a capital campaign committee was formed in January 2003. 

 Early in the fund raising process there was a strong sense among the Board that we should proceed with the detailed architectural plans. The consensus opinion was to proceed on faith  and once we made that decision, individual contributions, Foundation support and matching grants flowed together on a “just in time” basis that allowed us to meet each significant deadline. Official Ground Breaking took place in October, 2003 and real construction followed shortly thereafter. Fair Havens was blessed by the offer from Gary Kahler to serve as our Construction Superintendent and to have the Texas Baptist Men volunteer six weeks of time to the framing effort. With construction essentially complete by early Fall 2004, the office move began in September and our residents began their moves in early November, 2004. Our staff has now expanded to five employees and a host of volunteers. 

 The original construction was scaled back slightly due to fund raising deadlines but we have reserved an area along the north property line to complete the entire project when the timing seems appropriate. The outpouring of gifts and donations of materials, services, time, talents, and money from individuals, churches, local companies, organizations, and Foundations has been overwhelming. We have made a diligent attempt to recognize everyone on our Donor Wall. However, our sense all along is that the people involved with Fair Havens from the origins in 1995 through the recent construction have done so because God has touched their heart in some way to respond to the need they saw and personal recognition was never a part of the decision to help.