Contributed by Ann Kilkuskie- Director of Community Relations and Global Village Trip Team Leader
Habitat for Humanity’s 203rd Homeowner Family to Dedicate Home October 15
KALAMAZOO (MICH) – Habitat for Humanity’s 203rd homeowner family will dedicate their new home on Sunday, October 15. The home at 1130 Portage Court in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood will be open from 2:00 –3:00 p.m. with a dedication ceremony at 2:30 p.m. The ceremony will celebrate Habitat’s 203rd homeowner family and all the volunteers who helped build this home. The public may tour the home and participate in the dedication.
More than 250 Habitat for Humanity volunteers contributed time and talent to this project, working beside the future homeowner family. Volunteers included Habitat’s regular Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday crews, and groups from VML, Bendix Corporation, Consumers Credit Union, Portage Central High School National Honor Society, Eckert-Wordell, YMCA of Kalamazoo, FOCUS Kalamazoo, WMU Omega Delta Phi, and WMU Alpha Kappa Psi..
Special features include handcrafted cabinets made by participants in the Prison Build Program, a partnership between the Michigan State Department of Corrections and Habitat for Humanity of Michigan. Dow Chemical donated foam board insulation, Valspar donated paint, and Whirlpool donated a range and refrigerator.
The house will be purchased by a qualified Habitat home buyer who has contributed more than 300 volunteer “sweat equity” hours to help build this home and the homes of fellow Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity homeowners. Habitat for Humanity makes no profit on the sales of its homes and provides a very affordable mortgage. The future homeowner also completed more than 30 hours of MSHDA-approved financial literacy and personal financial management classes at Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services and more than 27 hours of homeowner maintenance training provided by Community Homeworks in partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
This will be the second Habitat family to live in this home. The first homeowner family outgrew the home and relocated. The home was sold back to Habitat and refurbished for sale to another Habitat family.
Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity provides affordable homeownership opportunities to qualified future homeowners and affordable home repairs to existing homeowners. Habitat builds or rehabilitates four to five homes annually and provides repairs in Kalamazoo County, the cities of Otsego and Plainwell, and Gun Plain and Otsego townships. Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity began in 1983 and is 1 of more than 1,300 U.S. and 550 international affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International that coordinate Habitat house-building projects in over 3,000 communities around the world. For more information about Habitat’s affordable housing programs or how you can help, contact the Habitat office at (269) 344-2443 or visit habitatkalamazoo.org.