The First Presbyterian Church of Foley, along with seven other Presbyterian congregations in Baldwin County have made plans to work with Habitat for Humanity to give a single mother of five a hand up and a home to call her own.

Lacie Maynard, publicist for First Presbyterian Church of Foley said the church has been sponsoring builds with Habitat for Humanity since as far back as 1994. According to Maynard, the church was one of the first to join forces with Habitat for Humanity and soon the other Presbyterian churches in the area joined in as well.

“We do it every other year,” said Maynard. “That is our commitment. This is probably the biggest philanthropic endeavor we are involved with.”

The eight churches involved in this year’s build, which will build a home for Terrecial Hunter and her family, are all part of the South Alabama Presbytery. The home will be located in Rooster Place in Foley and the construction on the home will begin on March 19, in the midst of Holy Week.

Maynard said because the build starts during Holy Week, the construction will start off slow, but the home will be built in no-time with the volunteer hours from all of the churches involved.

The eight churches involved in the build for the Hunter family split the $40,000 cost to sponsor a build and members of all the churches volunteer to swing a hammer and build the home.

Splitting the cost helps the churches afford the build, according to Maynard.

According to Alex Cary, construction manager for Habitat for Humanity in Baldwin County, church builds, like the one sponsored by the Presbyterian churches, are helping the organization a lot. 

“We are relying a lot on our sponsorships at this time, the church sponsorships and things like that. We are getting ready to start a Lutheran financially sponsored build. Women Build also sponsors builds every year,” she said.

Families who receive a home through Habitat for Humanity have to go through a rigorous screening process and have other requirements to fulfill, according to Cary. Each family must first apply for a home and then the family is assessed based on financial need. The family must meet HUD requirements for a low-income family.

“There are three main requirements,” said Cary. “They have to have a need, we make sure they are either living in unsafe or overcrowded conditions. They have to be able to afford it. We offer a mortgage, it is just a zero interest mortgage.”

The final requirement for all recipients of Habitat homes is what Cary calls “sweat equity” hours. Each recipient is required to put in 200 hours of work, usually on someone else’s home, before their name can even be added to the build list said Cary.

Maynard feels the effort she and other members of her church put into building homes for others is more than worthwhile.

“We believe that it is our job to give back and to help somebody help themselves. Somebody at the poverty level can never get ahead if they didn’t have a decent place to live that is good for their kids. So many kids are living in horrible conditions and I think the children are what drive a lot of people to get involved. They know how important it is to have a place, no only that you are proud of, but that is safe and warm and dry and that sort of thing. We believe that God calls us to be a part of that,” she said.

Cary said Habitat for Humanity could always use volunteers.

“Basically, they just need to be willing to jump in. We have opportunities all over the place. They don’t just have to be willing to swing a hammer. We have other jobs available, working at the ReStore and needs at the office, working with the families doing budget classes, we have a lot of different opportunities for them,” she said.

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more about Habitat for Humanity call 251-943-7268.