The Habitat for Humanity of Greenville and Laurens County is celebrating 40 years of operation in the community.
Habitat for Humanity was founded as a national organization in 1976 with the mission of helping working families achieve homeownership. The Greenville County chapter was founded about a decade later, and picked up Laurens County in recent years.
“It was just people sitting around with good hearts, feeling like they'd been nudged a little bit by God saying this is the right thing to do,” said LaTonya Phillips, President of the Habitat affiliate. “So they came together in pursuit of an affiliate here in Greenville County.”
In the 40 years since it was established, Habitat for Humanity of Greenville and Laurens County has built over 430 homes. Additionally, the group has taken on over 330 home preservation projects, which allow families to continue to live comfortably in their houses.
In celebration of the 40 year anniversary, the Habitat chapter has set a goal of raising $400,000 for its organization.
“The hope is that, as we reflect on what's happened over the last 40 years, we set ourselves up to be here for another 40,” Phillips said. “While the ultimate goal is to make our work unnecessary, as long as the need exists, we are committed to working alongside our families.”
As the group celebrates its success in the community, it has several projects planned for the remainder of its anniversary year. The annual Dinner on Ice fundraising event will be held on Oct. 21, and the group plans to complete its anniversary build in December.
This anniversary year has also been big for home building projects. Recently, the group constructed four new homes in Greer through a partnership project with the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority. Three of these homes have already been matched to families.
“We love those houses. We love the families that matched over there, [and] we love the existing neighborhood,” Phillips said. “It's just a really unique kind of collaboration.”
Habitat for Humanity works off of a partnership housing model, where the families are expected to aid in the building process or eventually pay off the home. Habitat provides these families with the flexibility they need throughout this process, and then later uses the funds from that family to go toward building another home in the community.
Over the last 10 years, Phillips says that the Greenville/Laurens chapter has had more than 24,000 volunteers, and more than 234,074 volunteer hours logged.
“The need is here, clearly,” Phillips said. “Because we're such a desirable community, it is having an impact on our housing market, and pushing some people out of that market. But we want to keep those people here.”
She added: “We've allowed families to stay rooted in the community [and] become economic drivers of the community. And that begins with having ownership in the community through a home.”
Moving forward, Phillips says the organization hopes to develop more innovative solutions to get families in homes, including looking into duplexes and townhome options. For more information on Habitat for Humanity of Greenville and Laurens County, visit their website.
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