Habitat for Humanity is building more than just houses. They’re “making other people better” and “making a change in the world”, according to Cecilia Krusling, President of Clinton County Habitat for Humanity. Habitat is providing families with affordable homes, education programs, and community, made possible through its hard-working volunteers. For Cecilia, hard work and volunteering have always been important values, a belief she shares with ReStore Manager, Steve Church. Together, they spoke about their backgrounds, their involvement in Habitat, and the inner workings of the organization.
When speaking about her upbringing, Cecilia said, “The ‘work-hard’ standard has always been part of my life.” When she was not working as an advanced practice nurse, Cecilia would join her husband on the Habitat construction sites, during which time she stepped onto Habitat’s Board of Directors.
Similarly to Cecilia’s upbringing and passion for volunteering, Steve started volunteering for the Salvation Army at a young age, donating and delivering food baskets to those in need. After working for thrift stores for most of his life, Steve found his way to Wilmington through his work with Habitat for Humanity International. “I like working for Habitat and this kind of organization because it’s ‘Christianity with its sleeves rolled up’”, Steve said. Inspired by this mission, he came to town excited to help grow Habitat’s ReStore.
Clinton County’s Habitat for Humanity started in the early 1990’s as the “outgrowth” of a KKK rally held at the courthouse in Wilmington. Angered by such a display of hatred, community organizers planned a community day to “counteract” the rally. Inspired by this, a group of three men decided they would initiate a Habitat chapter in Clinton County. After writing letters, reaching out to local churches and businesses, and creating a board and by-laws, Clinton County Habitat for Humanity was incorporated in 1995 and the first house was built soon after.
Excluding the pandemic, Habitat has built an average of two houses per year since. The houses are built almost exclusively by volunteers, excluding certain things that must be done by contractors. Of the houses built each year, they’ve only repossessed a few, a positive result partly due to the education programs provided and partly due to the diligence of the partner families, according to Cecilia.
The ReStore opened a few years later in 2005 after a co-founder of Habitat spoke at Wilmington College and inspired the then-secretary to open a ReStore in Clinton County. The store sells gently used items to keep them out of the landfills and earn revenue towards building houses. According to Steve, “you never know what treasures you’re going to find at the ReStore.” The ReStore accepts donations via drop off and pick up.
When speaking about Habitat’s mission beyond the store, Cecilia stated, “Our mission is to build cost effective, energy efficient homes for underprivileged people here in Clinton County.” She touched on the difficulty of finding affordable, livable homes in the area and emphasized that many of the families Habitat helps would likely not qualify for a traditional loan. Cecilia stressed that the homes are not “handouts”, stating, “We give them kindness, and volunteer a lot.. But nothing financial.” The families must pay back an interest-free loan, along with the completion of other requirements.
Habitat also requires “sweat equity”, time that the family has to spend giving back. For a two adult family, they must put in 500 sweat equity hours. For a one adult family, they must do 300 sweat equity hours. The goal of these hours is to encourage a “circle of involvement”. To meet their required hours, the families may work on construction sites, work at the ReStore, work fundraisers, and more. A certain number of the hours must be on a construction or job site. In addition to the circle of involvement, the goal of the hours is to teach the families to respect the house-building process, bond with the construction crew, learn valuable skills, and “have fun”, as emphasized by Cecilia.
To ensure that families are continuously involved in the process, Habitat homes have a “soft mortgage” in addition to their interest-free mortgage. The soft mortgage is currently valued at $20,000 for ten years. In order to remove that mortgage from their principal loan, the families must complete 50 hours of sweat equity per year for two adult families or 30 hours per year for single adult families. Cecilia mentioned that the homes are valued at $200,000 but only cost $115,000 to build because of volunteer help, including help received from the partner families.
To qualify for a Habitat home, families must want to be a part of the organization. Additionally, the family must meet the HUD requirements for the average median income in Clinton County, which currently falls between $50,000 and $80,000. The last requirement is the completion of sweat equity hours. The qualification process is mostly financial; however, families can also qualify based on need, such as the condition of their house.
For their partner families, Habitat also provides extensive training programs that cover various subjects—these subjects include money management, insurance information, wills and POA, emergency preparedness, and more. These programs are open to the public for anyone that would like to learn.
Their assistance goes beyond helping those locally, as a percentage of their donations and revenue are passed on to Habitat International, which can be used to build homes across the United States and in third world countries.
Listen to Cecilia and Steve’s full story on episode 58 of The Real Change Podcast.
Learn more about Habitat for Humanity at clintonhabitat.org.
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