'Home for Good' campaign builds homes, communities

WSLS partnering with Habitat for Humanity, community partners to build home

ROANOKE, Va. – Ten News is excited to partner with Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley, generous community supporters and lots of volunteers to build a home for a very deserving family in the Roanoke Valley.

The "Home for Good" campaign kicks into high gear on Wednesday, when community members raise the walls of the home. 

This will be the fourth Habitat home since 2014 that WSLS has helped to build.

"We bring communities together to build not only homes, but hope and community," said Jenny Lee, development director for Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley.

For more than 30 years, Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley has been working to provide families with safe, affordable and durable housing. The nonprofit does that through zero-interest, zero-profit mortgages that Habitat homeowners pay, and through community support and swarms of volunteers.

"It takes us a little bit longer to build a house than if we paid professionals to do it, but it keeps the cost down so that we can pass that savings on to our homeowners, who are going to be paying that mortgage," said Gina Dunnavant, Habitat's volunteer coordinator.  

The home WSLS is helping to build will be Habitat's 223rd home in the Roanoke Valley. 

Those involved with the organization said its mission stretches beyond just building homes.

"We're here on a site for four months, five months, six months, typically," said Habitat construction director Brian Clark. "We get a chance to know the neighbors. We get a chance for this particular block to feel like home."

Habitat said homeownership can be transformational for families, and it can also change an entire community.

"We've seen neighborhoods improve," said Jean Darby, Habitat family services director. "We're building neighborhoods as well as lives."

The "Home for Good" campaign will continue through July, when construction on the home is expected to be complete.