Paige Doster-Grimes, Development Coordinator

Home town: Goffstown, New Hampshire
Current town: Raleigh, North Carolina
When did you start working at Habitat Wake? October 2016

Habitat for Humanity of Wake County’s annual Interfaith Build offers a new twist this year: The Children’s Baffle Project, hosted by Unity of the Triangle. The children’s work day was held on Sunday afternoon, May 21, at Unity of the Triangle. Children as young as six years old decorated pre-cut cardboard baffles, pieces of cardboard that are placed on top of attic insulation in Habitat homes.

Edmundo "Eddie" Yanez, Director of Human Resources

Home town: High Point, NC

Current town: Wake Forest, NC

When did you start working at Habitat Wake?: August 10, 2015

Storm water and flooding. Traffic. Crime. Property Values. Non-Conformity. These are all issues we’ve heard from neighbors near to the Trimble Avenue site for which we are seeking rezoning.  Some concerns, like stormwater, are legitimate, but are not impacted by our proposed development.

On Monday, the Town of Cary’s Planning and Zoning Board considered a proposal by Habitat Wake to build nine homes off of Trimble Avenue. After a lengthy public hearing, the board recommended that the Town Council deny our application for rezoning of the land.

I attended Habitat for Humanity’s global conference last week in Atlanta along with ten other Habitat Wake staff members and colleagues from around the world sharing in this great ministry to provide homes, communities and hope in God’s name alongside those in need.

At my opening session on Monday, Kerry Thomson, now CEO at Monroe County Habitat in Bloomington, Indiana and former co-worker of mine in Lynchburg, Virginia started us off with this scripture from Ephesians 3:20:

On March 24, the construction phase of the Building Together campaign kicked off in Wake County as volunteers from Wake County Public School System and the community built and raised the walls for Roxanne's new home.

Newly appointed Secretary Ben Carson of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) visited a build site with Habitat for Humanity of Broward County

Earlier this week, the White House released an overview of the president’s 2018 federal budget request. In it, the administration proposes to eliminate several federal programs that are critical to Habitat Wake’s work, including:

Developing affordable housing is complex and challenging in many ways.  Then again, it’s not rocket science.  If the political will for affordable housing is present in a community and among its leadership, it’s amazing what can happen.  The depth of impact that affordable housing can have on a family and the wider community is remarkable and lasts for generations.

Check out this piece from HFHI’s CEO Jonathan Reckford about bringing housing back to the forefront of the conversation.