First Niagara helps Habitat for Humanity change lives with homes

Company employee volunteers will help to build a new home in Buffalo

The First Niagara Foundation and Habitat for Humanity will work together to build a new home at 118 Fox St., Buffalo. Employees of the bank will work at the house this month to help a local single mom and her children make their dream of home ownership a reality.

Habitat for Humanity ensures everyone has a decent place to live by providing affordable housing to families that might not otherwise be able to own a home. The houses are sold to pre-qualified families at no profit and with no interest charged while Habitat holds the mortgage.

The home on Fox Street is expected to be complete in late 2014. The First Niagara Foundation is providing $15,000 in funding for Habitat for Humanity to complete the project.

"First Niagara is committed to initiatives that advance self-sufficiency, stabilize housing, improve neighborhoods and encourage community collaboration," said Buford Sears, First Niagara regional president, Western New York. "We are thrilled to partner with Habitat for Humanity to provide affordable, safe housing that will help local families in need build long-term financial security."

Ronald Talboys, Habitat Buffalo president, added, "Families now come home to hope and happiness, and neighborhoods become stabilized with ownership dwellings."

The First Niagara Foundation is a not-for-profit charitable entity. Founded in 1998, the First Niagara Foundation is committed to supporting organizations in the communities in which members live and work, with specific focus on youth and education, community development and neighborhood revitalization. In 2013, First Niagara contributed more than $9 million in charitable grants to community partners across the bank's four-state footprint.

For more information, visit www.firstniagara.com/community.