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Niagara Falls students are shown with some of the supplies they collected.
Niagara Falls students are shown with some of the supplies they collected.

Niagara Falls City School District students, teachers give to Niagara Area Habitat for Humanity

Submitted

Tue, Apr 23rd 2019 12:50 pm

By Niagara Area Habitat for Humanity

Niagara Falls City Schools have collected and donated much-needed supplies to Niagara Area Habitat for Humanity.

Over the past several months, teachers and students assembled cleaning supplies, which will be used to clean new and rehabilitated homes Niagara Area Habitat builds in Niagara Falls.

Gina Beam, executive director of Niagara Area Habitat, stated, “It’s wonderful to see teachers and faculty educating students about the importance of giving back to their community. It makes a big difference when area schools and businesses partner with Habitat because we, in turn, pass those savings on to the families that buy Habitat houses. On behalf of the board of directors of Niagara Area Habitat, thank you for your generosity.”

Niagara Area Habitat is currently finishing two homes for families in the area and have begun rehabilitating a third.

When Niagara Area Habitat for Humanity selects a family for partnership into its homeownership program, that family receives more than a house. Several milestones along families’ paths to a Habitat home help them become vital participants in the community.

Habitat is not a giveaway program. Its partner families buy their homes at no profit to Habitat with a zero-interest mortgage. The economic model ensures hard-working, low-income families can also have access to the benefits of homeownership without sacrificing savings for higher education, health care and beyond.

Partner families commit to attend classes designed to teach them the basics of responsible homeownership in budgeting, credit counseling, home insurance, home maintenance, home repairs and good neighbor etiquette. By the time people move in, partner families “own” their homes like few others do. That’s because each family contributes a minimum of 500 hours of “sweat equity” in the construction of their home.

Habitat jobsites welcome volunteers from all walks of life, and its partner families develop positive relationships with community members as they all work for a common goal. These encounters help Habitat families develop a sense of dignified community participation that poverty housing scarcely affords.

Niagara Area Habitat for Humanity current construction locations:

•2486 Linwood Ave.: Demolition recently began on the interior of this home. Habitat will work to finish this home by the end of 2019.

•629 60th St.: This project is a new home build. It is currently under construction and is due for completion in May.

•2718 Orleans Ave.: This project is a rehabilitation of an existing home that was taken down to studs. It is currently under construction and will be completed by May.

•612 61st St.: This project will be a new home build. Habitat will begin this project later in the year. Groundbreaking will begin in late summer or early fall.

Those interested in volunteering, or looking to find out if they qualify for a Habitat home, can contact Niagara Area Habitat for Humanity at 716-285-2877 or by email at [email protected].

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