A Whole Host of New Families! Debbie Cooper first came to know about LowCountry Habitat for Humanity through her work as a volunteer. Working in the ReStore, the Mint Farm job site and the main office, Debbie learned the qualifications—and sacrifices—of being a Habitat homeowner. This led her to apply to the program herself, where she was accepted in April.

“My family and I had been bouncing around for a year and a half,” she said.

Debbie’s situation included living with relatives and sometimes

sharing bedrooms with her four children. She was then accepted into the Beaufort Housing Program and lived with low monthly rental payments. Her move from renting to homeownership through Habitat will not only benefit her, it will open another spot for someone in subsidized housing.

For Debbie and her kids, the best part of the Habitat experience will be an end to her housing instability, which is what initially led her to apply.

“We needed a permanent home, somewhere we didn’t have to leave that would give us peace and stability.”

Debbie is also experiencing growth in her job as a nurse at the Beaufort County Detention Center. She received her LPN degree earlier this year and is planning on working towards her RN in 2011.

Debbie has already started working on her sweat equity hours, and work will begin on her house—one of the three Neighborhood Stabilization Program houses renovated by Habitat—in September.

For Debbie and her kids, the Habitat program provides, in her words, the “perfect opportunity to start over.”

LaSaundra Holmes was accepted into our program at the same time as Debbie, and you will hear more of her story in a newsletter to come. As if welcoming Debbie Cooper and LaSaundra Holmes and their families were not enough, with the help of our Family Selection Committee, we also recently welcomed five more new families into our program, the most at one time for our affiliate. More on their stories will be coming in our next newsletter! Stay posted—something exciting is always happening at LowCountry Habitat!

Summer/Fall 2010 Vol. 7, No. 3

Our Mission

In response to God’s love, LowCountry Habitat for

Humanity creates long-term partnerships to build and

renovate affordable housing with volunteers and responsible families in

need.

Our ReStore

LowCountry Habitat ReStore was created to help fund LowCountry

Habitat for Humanity’s House Construction Program; to provide a

source for donated new and used items at reasonable prices; and to reduce the amount of construction material waste

in local landfills.

(l-r) Destiny, Debbie, Jerdyn, Pertiali

and Saniyah Cooper

Five new families learn they have been accepted into the Habitat program in August.

P a g e 2

In August of 1990, conductor Leonard Bernstein performed for the final time with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. East Germany and West Germany announced they would unite later that year. The film Ghost reclaimed the top spot at the box office from Presumed Innocent. And in Beaufort, eight community-minded citizens of northern Beaufort County met with an interest in forming an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International.

This group felt strongly about the need for safe, decent and affordable housing and immediately formed committees to begin the process of applying to International. By October, that group had grown to 18 dedicated local residents. In April of 1991 they received word that their affiliate application had been approved, and the first three families were accepted into the program. In November, the first house built by LowCountry Habitat for Humanity was dedicated.

We are deeply indebted to those founding members—Lee Hundley, Sister Sheila Byrne, Emory Campbell, Bill Cochrane, William Galloway, Russ Diller, Brantley Harvey and Bob Cuttino. They blazed a trail for many dedication celebrations to follow.

Many, many more generous volunteers and donors have followed down their path.

Since that beginning in 1990, our first homeowner has paid off her mortgage and 30 more families have experienced the joy of their house dedication. Nineteen of these houses were built in the last ten years, and over 100 parents and children have made them their homes. We continue to grow.

And as you can see in our cover story, our founders’ work continues at full speed ahead! As we move into our next decade of service, we’ve already started out with our busiest year ever. Three renovated houses will be dedicated in the next few months, with three new construction projects starting at our Penn Village location. In the last six months, we’ve added seven new families into our program.

We thank you all for your support and prayers over the last 20 years. Please stay with us as we continue to build on the strong foundation laid out in 1990!

Brenda Dooley

Executive Director

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bob Albon

Steve Andrews

Ted Becker

Lawrence “Buddy” Coleman

Russ Dimke

Jim Gibson

Benjamin Gillens

Nancy Gilley

Susie Gombocz

Pastor Steve Keeler

Jim Laughnane

Freddie Lawton, Sr.

Pastor Leon Meadows

Edward Smalls

OFFICE 616 Parris Island Gateway

Beaufort, SC 29906 522-3500

RESTORE

612 Parris Island Gateway 525-0055

The ReStore is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday

from 10:00am until 5:00pm. Donations may be dropped off on

Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:00am to 2:00pm. Pick-up of large items can be arranged by calling the

ReStore.

A Note from the Executive Director...

B L U E P R I N T S

HABITAT WELCOMES NEW EMPLOYEES!

We would like to welcome our two newest employees, Jennifer Shaffer and Tamika Shiggs to LowCountry

Habitat.

Tamika works in our front desk position Monday through Friday

from 9 am-1 pm, while Jennifer works in the same front desk position from 1-5 pm.

Both Tamika and Jennifer come with experience from working in the pri-vate sector, and Tamika will focus on working with mortgages and families while Jennifer will work with publications and volunteers. Please stop in our office and wel-come them both aboard!

P a g e 3

S u m m e r / F a l l

She would like to make additional trips and even help organize a group of Habitat homeowners and their chil-dren to do a similar volunteer experi-ment in Beaufort.

“I wanted to help because someone had helped me,” she said.

THOMAS LEADS INTERNATIONAL GROUP ON HABITAT BUILD IN POLAND

Barbara Thomas, former director of LowCountry Habitat for Humanity, recently led a group of volunteers—through Habitat International—on a trip to Gliwice, Poland to build Habi-tat houses from July 24th through Au-gust 2nd.

Below is a por-tion of the team diary, recorded by team member Susan Kim: “Today was our final day in Gli-wice. Once the

bus arrived, we started loading up our luggage and I was hit with the realiza-tion that this would be the last day that I would see most of our team

members.

Once we got back into to Krakow, there was some type of local cele-bration taking place in the square. Later, I found out that it was the anniversary of the ‘uprising.’ Later in the evening, we had a team meet-ing and headed off to a lovely din-ner. This was our last chance to try the lard served with the bread. I fi-nally tried it and actually enjoyed it.

This week zipped by so quickly and it’s hard to

believe that it’s over. I’ve been through some rough patches in my life, which have taught me to appre-ciate a blessing when it comes my way. I honestly believe that being part of this team was such a bless-ing. With such a diverse group, I learned much from everyone on the team. Each team member has so much beauty to add to the world, which inspires me to do more once I return home.”

RECEIVING HELP—THEN GIVING BACK

Spring break is traditionally a time for relaxing on a beach or catching up on lost sleep for most college students. It was not so this past spring for Shay Peterson—a rising sophomore at UNC-Pembroke and the daughter of homeowner Roberta Peterson.

Shay joined with six other stu-dents and advisers from UNC-Pembroke to embark on a week-long journey that took them from Philadelphia—where they helped renovate a house for a homeless person, to New York—where they helped serve Meals-on-Wheels, back to Washington, D.C.—where they helped a group that counsels AIDS victims.

The experience allowed Shay to give back in the same way that she had been given.

“Instead of coming home for break, I thought, ‘why not volun-teer my hours to help someone experience what I’ve experi-enced.’”

Yes! I want to help keep building homes and commu-nities here in Beaufort!

Name:

Address:

City,State/Zip:

:Email:

Phone:

c $500 c $100 c $50 c $25

c Enclosed is my check for $

payable to: LowCountry Habitat for Humanity

616 Parris Island Gateway, Beaufort, SC 29906

c Please charge my gift of $

Visa / MasterCard Account #

Exp. / /

Summer at the LowCountry Habitat for Humanity ReStore has proven to be just as busy as the other facets of Habitat. In fact, with two part-time truck drivers, we are now fully-equipped to handle picking up donations—as well as continu-ing to offer our free deconstruction services. As summer turns to fall, perhaps you have a renovation project on your mind. Maybe you want to replace old furniture or appliances? If so, please call us at (843) 525-0055 to see how we can assist you with making a tax-deductible donation to our store and helping further the mission of LowCountry Habitat for Humanity. As always, thank you for your patronage of our ReStore, and visit us soon and often—our inventory changes daily!

616 Parris Island Gateway Beaufort, SC 29906

Partnership Matters.

NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID BEAUFORT, SC PERMIT NO. 30

CELEBRATING

20 YEARS

OF SERVICE TO NORTHERN BEAUFORT COUNTY!

Thank you for your support!