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FAMILY
SUPPORT PARTNERS:
Each
Habitat family is assigned a Support Partner to help
them through the home buying process. Support Partners
keep in contact with their family and make sure that
the family is on track doing their sweat equity hours.
They report any change in the family status (i.e. address,
phone number, employment or family size) and attend
the 11 mandatory workshops with their family. Other
duties may include providing transportation, childcare, and assisting
homebuyers in choosing carpeting and other household
options. Support Partners also attend quarterly Family
Support Committee meetings to discuss Habitat policies
and family situations. They help with committee responsibilities
such as secretarial duties, developing workshops, working
with the Homeowner's Association, overseeing sweat equity
hours, helping with New Family Orientations, and special
events.
HOMEOWNER
STORIES:
Many
roads lead to a Habitat home. Here are a few of them
(with names changed):
Mary is a single mother who was in a destructive marriage.
After several false starts, she gathered the strength
to take steps to improve her situation, which included
applying for a Habitat home. Today, two years later,
she has graduated from nursing school, found a steady
job, and looks forward to a positive future for her
child. ______________________________________________________________________________________
John, a single father with a son and
daughter, lived in a public housing apartment where
he was afraid to allow his children to play outdoors
due to the level of drug activity and associated crime.
Today the children enjoy the freedom of life in a safe
neighborhood, where they ride bikes, roller skate, play
basketball and walk their dog while John looks on with
the knowledge that his children are safe.
______________________________________________________________________________________
"I never in my whole life thought
I could ever own my own home, but I always dreamed of
one and now you people have made that dream come true."
______________________________________________________________________________________
One mother tells of how her son has
always suffered from asthma because all the houses they
lived in had so much mold. Now that they have their
very own brand new home, he no longer has a problem.
This not only helped his academic work, but also his
self-esteem and hope for a future. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
In another Habitat family, generations of family members
looked on with pride when their eldest daughter walked
to the stage to accept her diploma from the local high
school, knowing that shortly she would leave for her
freshman year in college - the first member of the family
ever to attend college. She doesn't intend to stop with
a bachelor's degree, but instead, plans to become a
pediatrician. Her mother says that her daughter's ambition
comes from first hand knowledge that dreams can come
true, and that hard work has tangible rewards. Her daughter
knows that because she watched her mother come home
from her job as a cook, and then attend Habitat workshops
in the evenings or work on other's houses and then her
own house. The daughter remembers the pride the whole
family felt as they moved into their new home. They
are living proof that Hilton Head Regional Habitat for
Humanity not only builds homes, it builds hope for families.
Behind every door of a Hilton
Head Regional Habitat for Humanity home, there is a
similar story. But those stories would never have had
a happy ending without the support of generous donors.
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