Habitat for Humanity's 'Home for the Holidays' revealed in Raleigh
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Habitat for Humanity of Wake County and Lowe's dedicated the home of Latisha Hockaday Monday evening at 2100 Nelson Street in Raleigh. It is Habitat Wake's 2014 Home for the Holidays, of which ABC11 is a proud sponsor.
This is the first of 18 homes that will be finished by the end of 2014. Hockaday's new home is located in Raleigh's Long Acres neighborhood. Her mother grew up in that neighborhood. Her aunt lives there now and now she and her children will move in.
Construction on the home started in late September. As part of the program, Hockaday put her own blood, sweat and tears in building the home. She put in 250 hours of work.
Lowe's awarded Habitat for Humanity of Wake County a $70,000 grant to help build the home. The Long Acres neighborhood that has benefitted from Habitat's Neighborhood Revitalization efforts in the last several years.
Since 2010, Habitat Wake has collaborated with community partners in Long Acres to build or rehab 11 homes and provide exterior repairs on 14 additional homes. Other community revitalization efforts included establishing a monthly food delivery program and a computer lab in a local church to support education and employment services. Since neighborhood revitalization efforts began, Long Acres has seen increased resident leadership and a decrease in crime rates.
In fact, those with Habitat Wake say the house that used to sit in the same spot where Hockaday's new home sits now used to be well known for criminal activities. Now, she and her family are part of the property's and the neighborhood's positive future.
"This new, safe, affordable home will transform life for Latisha and her daughter and son," said Kevin Campbell, President/CEO of Habitat Wake. "In addition, we are pleased to continue building homes and community in Long Acres."
"We are honored to build this home with Latisha," said Freddie Jones, manager of the West Raleigh Lowe's. "All of us believe in supporting the community, and rolling up our sleeves and donating our time has been a great way to make an impact for a local family."
The grant from Lowe's is part of nearly $1 million in funding that the home improvement chain is providing to 11 Habitat affiliates for more than 100 neighborhood revitalization projects. The nationwide grant program is one of the major initiatives supported through Lowe's new five-year partnership with Habitat that will bring Lowes' total contributions to the organization to more than $63 million since 2003.
Individuals interested in volunteering for future Habitat projects can find more information at Habitat.org/Lowes.
