Carolyn Walker officially paid off her mortgage this week!  Carolyn lives in the very first home ever built by Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, officially purchasing her home on October 15, 1990.

Carolyn has lived in her home with her two children, grandchildren, and now her two great grandchildren!

We are so proud of Carolyn and wish her the best of luck in the future!

Volunteers landscaped, painted porches and fences, installed screen doors, and helped homeowners discard or donate unwanted items.  This project was a part of Affordable Housing Awareness Week with a goal of raising awareness for the need for affordable housing in our area.

The day was a huge success and we are so grateful to all the wonderful volunteers who helped make this event possible!

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation donated $70,000 to complete the two rehabs, located in Henrico County and the City of Richmond in addition to bank employees volunteering their time. Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanitycompleted a full renovation of each home using 135 volunteers dedicating over 1,640 hours of volunteer time.

Hassan Khamis and Khadija Nazir, refugees from the Sudan who came to the United States along with their three children to better their lives, will be purchasing the home in Henrico County. In the Sudan, Hassan and Khadija’s families primarily worked as farmers, and some family members are still in refugee camps. Hassan and Khadija are devoted to ensuring success for theirthree children, Khaldid (19 years old), Fatima (16 years old) and Mohamed (13 years old). They are proud of their scholastic achievements and want them to continue their education past high school. Khalid and Fatima both want to become pharmacists.

Before moving into their home, the family paid a high monthly rent to live in a small, rundown apartment where management was slow to make repairs. They are excited to own their own home, with more space and enough property to enjoy time outdoors.

William Coleman will be purchasing the home in the City of Richmond. Before moving into his home, he lived in very small studio apartment in an unsafe neighborhood. He has been extremely helpful to Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity by taking care of the landscaping at one of our multi-home neighborhoods, the Pillars at Oakmont as a part of his 350 “sweat equity” (or volunteer) hours needed to become a Habitat for Humanity homeowner.

“Bank of America is grateful that our employees had the opportunity to work with Habitat for Humanity to help these deservingfamiliesachieve the dream of homeownership,” said Gary Gore, Bank of America Richmond Market President. “Helping families own their own homes not only benefits the families themselves, but reflects our commitment to doing our part to strengthen local neighborhoods in the Richmond area.”

Through the generous partnership with Bank of America, Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity was able to rehabilitate these homes and sell them at an affordable price. The Khamis/Nazir Family and Mr. Coleman purchased their homes with a 0% interest mortgage and their monthly mortgage payments will be used to build more Habitat houses in the greater Richmond area.

Affordable Housing Awareness Week is right around the corner and Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity is excited to be a partner this year!

The essential need for affordable housing in the Richmond Metropolitan area is an issue of growing importance, as it affects the health and economic well-being of communities and people across the region. To highlight this shared concern, 15 local non-profit housing organizations partner together to hold Affordable Housing Awareness Week every year for one week in April. The purpose of this week is not only to bring attention to the issues surrounding housing affordability, but also to encourage area professionals to get involved with the groups that support these causes.

This year we will have several volunteer opportunities during Affordable Housing Awareness Week:

• Prep to Picnic – Volunteers will build picnic tables at our ReStore to sell.  All the proceeds from these picnic tables will go towards our mission of providing affordable housing to low-income families in the Greater Richmond area.

• Put together the Cabinets at the ReStore – Volunteers will put together a large donation of cabinets received by the ReStore.

• Clean up and Landscaping at the ReStore – Volunteers will help to landscape the exterior of the ReStore and cleanup the backyard.

• Edgelawn Neighborhood Spring Clean Up: We will be having over 50 volunteers help with landscaping, painting, and general clean up at 16 houses throughout this Habitat for Humanity neighborhood.

Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity was lucky to receive the 2011 EarthCraft Virginia Habitat Affiliate of the Year award last week.  We received the award for the Pillars at Oakmont, a multi-home neighborhood built in North Church Hill and completed in July of 2011.

The Pillars at Oakmont consists of six townhomes and a triplex, for a total of nine units.

The Pillars at Oakmont is a prime example of green, sustainable building practices.  Energy efficiency and environmental friendliness were taken into consideration in every step of building this neighborhood, from the planning stages all the way to completion.  By building our homes to EarthCraft and EnergyStar standards, we are providing healthier, more cost effective living spaces to our Partner Families and lessen the carbon footprint on our environment.

We are so excited to win this award and are so grateful for our wonderful partnership with EarthCraft Virginia!

You are cordially invited to a night of good food, fun, and fabulous prizes at our first Casino Night. You can’t beat the value - a $25 donation (per person) will give you a traditional St Patty’s Day dinner of salad, corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, green beans, dessert, one adult beverage, a t-shirt, $5,000 complimentary play money, 1 raffle ticket and an evening of music, dancing, and casino games. We’ll also have a silent auction, prize raffles and 50/50 raffles at our party!

Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 6:00PM 
Dinner at Colonial Downs begins at 6:30PM 
Reservations must be paid for in advance – no sales at the door 
Smart casual attire please – no denim, shorts, t-shirts or tank tops

Casino games include Texas Hold-em, Roulette, Craps, Black Jack, and Tabletop Horse Racing. A cash bar will be available for those wishing additional adult beverages. For added fun, any man who wears a kilt to our event will be entered into a contest for a chance to win a bottle of single malt scotch and a trophy.

Your participation helps us to raise money for the fourth New Kent Habitat home. Ours is not a welfare program. We offer a hand up, not a hand out, by assisting local families who have proven their ability to pay their bills but have difficulty qualifying for a traditional mortgage.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for the event, please contact Donna Friend at djfriend@cox.net or (804) 966-2813.

A HUGE thank you to our current sponsors:

We are so grateful to Lavonda for being such a wonderful, caring Habitat homeowner.

If you’re feeling inspired – stop by the ReStore and pickup some of these items and start your own project!

Thanks to a generous donation from Capital One, Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity is able to provide a wonderful new post-purchase education program to our homeowners.  Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity’s post-purchase education program is designed to give delinquent homeowners the tools necessary to make better money management decisions in order to pay their monthly mortgage payments on-time each month.

Paying late comes with significant negative consequences for our homeowners and their financial standing, such as paying late fees and lowering their credit score.  A low credit score affects the interest rate our homeowners receive when they need to borrow money, the amount they pay for insurance and can also hinder their ability to obtain a job.  Foreclosure is also another real and serious consequence of paying their mortgage late.

Post-Purchase program includes 4 financial literacy classes:

1. Good Credit and Repairing Credit
2. Saving to Build Wealth
3. Manage Your Money Wisely
4. Keeping Your Home

Along with the 4 classes, our homeowners also meet one-on-one to discuss a spending and savings plan, as well as, create an action plan to help find solutions to paying their bills in-full and on-time each month based on their specific financial situation.

A volunteer from Capital One taught the four courses during the month of December.  Seven homeowners participated in the pilot program.  Participants are now going through the second phase of the program, meeting one-on-one with the Family Services Department to create action plans for saving and paying bills on time each month.

For more information, please contact Amy McDaniel at (804) 232-7001 ext. 105 or amcdaniel@richmondhabitat.org.