$70,000 Lowe’s grant will fund rehabilitation of two foreclosed properties into safe, decent, affordable homes
Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers at one of the two Habitat rehabs their company is sponsoring
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity hosted a Neighborhood Revitalization volunteer day on August 21 with a team of twelve volunteers, including Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers, who together worked to help turn a foreclosure into a safe, decent home for a single mother.
Lowe’s awarded a $70,000 grant to Milwaukee Habitat as part of Habitat’s Neighborhood Revitalization effort to serve more families through community development partnerships. Lowe’s contributed nearly $1 million in funding to 11 Habitat affiliates across the country to support community improvement projects ranging from critical repairs to new home construction.
“We are excited to have this opportunity to build on our partnership with Lowe’s and turn these two foreclosures into good homes for hardworking families,” said Brian Sonderman, executive director of Milwaukee Habitat. “While we’re still building new homes in Washington Park, we know that it’s important that we also work to address the abandoned houses which can negatively impact our families by bringing down property values and attracting crime. We’d like to extend our sincere gratitude to Lowe’s for their commitment to sustainable community change and willingness to invest both financial and volunteer support to help us make it happen.”
Milwaukee Habitat is in the second year of a five-year neighborhood revitalization strategy in Washington Park, and will use the grant funds to transform two vacant, city-owned foreclosures into affordable homes. The organization focuses primarily on affordable housing issues, and last year revived its complete rehabilitation program to address the neighborhood’s foreclosure crisis. It also expanded its services to include home repair assistance for low-income homeowners in the target area.
“Lowes is excited to partner with Habitat to bring lasting change to communities in need,” said Joan Higginbotham, Lowe’s director of community relations. “Through these Neighborhood Revitalization efforts, we’re serving more families and meeting additional critical needs in the places our customers call home.”
Through Habitat’s Neighborhood Revitalization approach, Habitat affiliates offer an expanded array of housing services and partner with local residents, housing leaders, community groups and businesses to transform neighborhoods and enhance the quality of life in communities.
A national partner since 2003, Lowe’s recently renewed its commitment to Habitat for Humanity with a five-year, $23.5 million donation that will bring Lowe’s total contributions to more than $63 million. In celebration of the renewed partnership and to help Habitat reach its goal of serving one million people annually by 2018, Lowe’s and Habitat teamed up to launch “Hammers for Habitat,” a nationwide volunteer drive to get more hands on hammers to support Habitat’s work. Individuals interested in volunteering for future Habitat projects can find more information at Habitat.org/Lowes.
“It’s again that gift we are giving:” Milwaukee neighborhood receives facelift (Fox 6 News, 8/21/14)
Lowe’s volunteers ready Habitat home in Washington Park (Milwaukee Neighborhood News Services, 8/26/14)