Myra Sanderson, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of the River Valley, spoke to Athens Rotarians on June 10th about the expansion of their services into Limestone County.
Habitat for Humanity of North Alabama was established in 1987 as a Habitat for Humanity International affiliate. In the 1990s the name was changed to Habitat for Humanity of Madison County. It has most recently rebranded the name to Habitat for Humanity of the River Valley to coincide with the expansion of Limestone County.
Ms. Sanderson, who has been with Habitat since 2002, explained the vision and mission of the organization have remained the same.
Vision: A world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Mission: Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope.
Habitat encompasses four business models. It is a social service agency, construction company, mortgage company, and operates a retail business called Restore.
Families complete 300 hours of sweat equity including construction work, volunteering in the Restore and other community projects, and 55 hours of classroom education covering personal finance, home repairs, and mortgages.
Habitat currently holds and services 153 mortgages. 99 mortgages have been paid in full since 1987.
304 families have a safe and affordable home due to their partnership with our affiliate since 1987.
The Restore has 25,000 square feet of donated and purchased merchandise for home repairs and other updating projects. Sales of those items help fund various parts of the Habitat program.
They are excited to be expanding into Limestone County and are looking for tracts of land that might be available before starting the application process for potential homeowners.