Last Tuesday, Habitat Wake dedicated the Holloway family home on Parnell Street. Deonna Holloway chose to build in the Long Acres neighborhood of Raleigh. This effort is part of a Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) that is committed to bettering the communities in which our homeowners live.
Habitat Wake was recognized, along with four other Triangle Home Builders, for our excellence in green home building at an award reception on August 1. Green building is especially important to Habitat homebuyer partners because lower utility costs and better indoor air quality improve our construction of safe, affordable housing.
In May, Marva Robinson stood with Jim Wells from the Lion’s Club and held a flame to her mortgage, dropping it on the pavement behind the Habitat Wake ReStore as staff and Board members applauded. “It feels good,” she says about paying off her mortgage. “I’ve achieved another goal. It was hard sometimes, but when I say I’m going do something, I’m going to do it!”
For more than four decades, Debbie rented a house in the Long Acres neighborhood located off Poole Road in Raleigh. The home was substandard in many areas, including electricity and plumbing. Debbie was more than ready to purchase a home of her own. In fact, about 10 years ago, one of Debbie’s friends encouraged her to apply for a home with Habitat. But it wasn’t until Habitat planned to build in the same neighborhood where she has lived nearly her whole life that Debbie finally applied.
As a single father to two teenagers, Ricky says his kids are his inspiration. “My son and daughter are my priority,” he says. “I want to leave something behind for them when I am gone, something my parents weren’t able to do.”
I'd like to introduce our second guest blogger: one of our wonderful volunteers. Janelle is a first year full-time MBA Candidate at NC State University's Jenkins Graduate School. She has a BBA in Marketing from James Madison University. Most recently before starting business school at NC State, Janelle was marketing manager at Wilkinson Supply Company. She's a lover of running and Pinterest. When not in class, you could probably find her exploring the restaurant scene in downtown Raleigh.
“It is not enough to limit your love to your own nation, to your own group. You must respond with love even to those outside of it. This concept enables people to live together not as nations, but as the human race.” -- Clarence Jordan
