GAINESVILLE - Habitat for Humanity of Hall County will join with Habitat affiliates around the world to simultaneously build homes and conduct community worship services as part of "Building on Faith."
The initiative will take place September 13-19.
Habitat officials say "Building on Faith" began in ten locations in 1995 and has grown to include thousands of churches worldwide who put their faith into action by donating their money and volunteering their time to build homes.
Robb Owens, executive director of the Hall County chapter, says he hopes to bring a dozen churches together for the chapter's first interdenominational project.
Habitat, which was founded in Americus, Georgia, by Millard Fuller more than 30 years ago, builds homes for the needy and sells them to its clients for no profit and with no interest charge.
Owens, a former Hall County Habitat board member, is new to the job of executive director and has set a goal of building 50 houses in five years.
Owens cites statistics that show these new homes would not only be of benefit to the families who move into them by taking them out of poverty housing and placing them in a "safe, stable, living environment" but also would generate nearly $6 million of new income to local businesses and workers in the first year of construction and $1.4 million every year thereafter. In addition, he says, 125 jobs in the community would be filled in the first year and $700,000 in local taxes would be generated, and $249,000 every year after that.
Owens said Habitat for Humanity in Hall County is currently building one home, sponsored by First Baptist Church on Green Street, and plans to begin another next month, sponsored by Grace Episcopal Church, which sponsored a house that was built last fall. (See accompanying photo.)
Tuesday
May 21st, 2024
11:17AM
