519 Memorial Drive, S.E. • Atlanta • 404-223-5180
Habitat’s concept and the infrastructure for it emerged in 1976. President Jimmy Carter and close friends were instrumental to Habitat’s founding. Atlanta participation began in 1983, and now the program is worldwide. Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to building and selling affordable housing to the working poor. Building costs are reduced by utilizing largely volunteer labor and through the financial contributions of sponsoring groups such as churches, schools, corporations, and civic-minded people. These contributions make it possible to sell the homes at modest cost and with a 25-30 year interest free mortgage.
The 100,000th home, worldwide was built in 2000. There are approximately 500 such homes in the Atlanta area. DPC has been partner to building six of them. Twenty-five to thirty volunteers gather each of eight Saturdays to build a house. Two-bedroom homes contain 980 square feet of heated space. Three-bedroom homes contain 1125 square feet of space. Professional tradesmen supervise all of the work and do the electric, mechanical, and plumbing installations, usually without labor cost. Despite such contributions, the average cost per house, including land and materials was $65,000 in 2000.
DPC during 2001 partnered with a consortium of twelve Presbyterian churches to build its last house. We donated approximately $5000 to the project, and several of our members were on hand every Saturday to help with construction. Chris DePree and Jim Keith led our group.
Chris shared this reflection: “I have had the pleasure of working on Habitat for Humanity projects in both North Carolina and Georgia . In North Carolina I hammered nails and put up sheet rock. In Georgia I was put to use laying plastic in the crawl space, installing insulation (an itchy job), laying floors, and raising walls. I had never done any of these things before. As the work progressed, I was struck not so much by what I and other volunteers were doing, but by what the project did for us. I learned to do things that I had no idea I could do. I met good people from other churches and groups with whom I would otherwise never have crossed paths. I was outside doing a good thing on lovely spring Saturdays. I had the pleasure on the final day of this most recent house to see my daughter, Claire, help plant flowers in the front yard of Monica McCoy’s house.
“There are few volunteer activities where the outcome is so obvious and so immediate. By the end of the first Saturday, the walls were in place, and the beginnings of a house were evident. By the last day, when flowers were planted and the grass was sown, and with Monica surrounded by her family on the front porch, the house had become a home.”
DPC will continue to partner with churches, perhaps Agnes Scott with whom we have already built one house, and others to contribute to the Habitat for Humanity mission. Our next house, which will be built with the Presbyterian consortium, will begin on April 18, 2002 . We welcome members of our congregation to help.
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