Partnership with Centex Homes
Chief among most corporations' motivation to support the Habitat homeownership program is wanting to demonstrate responsible corporate citizenship and to help families in need of a better place to live. Corporate partners provide cash donations, volunteer hours or in-kind gifts. Centex Homes has provided Habitat Wake a combination of all three.
Centex Homes has sponsored and blitz-framed eight homes in Wake County: two in Cary, six in Raleigh. (Centex Homes has also sponsored and blitz-framed homes in Durham and Orange Counties.)
While most of the volunteers are professionally trained builders, office employees and spouses help build, too. The build days have become a tradition for many of the employees. The fast-paced schedule:
-
Day Prior
snap lines and spray
deliver windows and doors and back frame
receive universal trusses
- Blitz Frame Day
7:45 a.m. -- set up
8:00 a.m. -- prayer & hand out shirts
8:10 a.m. -- build push-up panels
9:00 a.m. -- install windows and doors & apply house wrap
10:15 a.m. -- cranes and framers put up trusses
11:30 a.m. -- lunch break
12:30 p.m. -- sheath and paper porches and sheds
Punch list
Clean up
Finish up
3:30/4:00 p.m. -- complete
- Said Mike Michael, VP of Operations for Centex Homes Raleigh-Durham: “Centex Homes has always viewed its participation with Habitat for Humanity as an honor and an incredible opportunity to give back to our community. Being a part of making someone’s dream tangible has proven to be both gratifying and humbling for our entire organization as well. We look forward to remaining a key participant with the Habitat Wake for years to come and continuing to be a part of such a special 'value added' program.”
Cornerstone Member
In 2001 Centex Homes announced a five-year commitment to sponsor and blitz-frame at least 100 homes with Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the United States over a five year period.
Centex Homes is one of about 70 corporations partnering with Habitat for Humanity International (HfHI) to provide gifts at the $100,000-plus level. When combined with much-needed gifts from so many individual donors around the world, corporate partners help fuel Habitat's work to build more houses with more families in more corners of the world.
- Said the CEO of Habitat for Humanity International in 2005 when Habitat celebrated a housing achievement: “We're celebrating a major milestone this week – the building of our 200,000th home. That never would have been possible without the support of concerned corporations like Centex, Whirlpool, Lowe’s, Dow and many others. The only way we are going to achieve our goal of eradicating substandard housing is if even more companies and organizations partner with us in this important work.”
Centex History with Habitat Wake
Starting in 1992, Macon Foster, at the helm of the Centex committee, called Habitat Wake to find out the shortest time a Habitat home took to build. To best the record, he committed to build a complete home in 27 HOURS.
As the years have gone by Centex Homes staff and family members have built homes from footing to move-in. Most recently, the approach combinines families, friends, subcontractors and vendors having a fun competition of framing two homes in less than one day.
- "For some this is a learning experience never having worked on the physical building of a home, for others it’s a chance to lead," said Ken Johnson of the Centex Homes Raleigh Division. "Most important this is a heart felt experience for all. We have the opportunity to give back to many who need a leg up."
