City and State Officials to Celebrate New Home with Habitat-South Collin County
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Habitat for Humanity International® and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans® join forces to increase capacity for building affordable housing. Community is invited to a “Driving of the First Nail” event to mark the beginning of a bright new chapter in life of local family. Building on their dream of homeownership the Young family will celebrate an important milestone in the construction of their new home—“Driving of the First Nail” into their home to be built in the Douglass Community of Plano. State Senator Florence Shapiro, State Representative Jerry Madden, Plano Mayor Pat Evans, representatives from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, local Lutheran churches, and Habitat for Humanity of South Collin County will be on hand to help Eiron Young realize her dream. The celebration begins at 7:45 am on Saturday, March 29 at the construction site located at 1217 H Placein Plano. Along with local Habitat for HumanitySouthCollinCounty and Thrivent Financial representatives, Senator Shapiro, Representative Madden, and Mayor Pat Evans will speak during a short program. Eiron will then drive the first nail into her home with the help of city and state officials, Thrivent representatives and Lutheran pastors and representatives from Allen, Carrollton, Corinth, Fairview, Flower Mound, Frisco, Garland, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano and Rowlett. Following the program, Mayor Evans will join volunteers in the actual framing of the house.
Ms. Young is the granddaughter of James Lawrence Thomas, an entrepreneur, Plano’s first African-American fireman, and civic leader in the early 1900s. Ms. Young’s strong sense of family, community, and culture has drawn her back to the Douglass Community. She is excited to have the opportunity to raise her son in the same community she frequently visited as a child. Eiron is an employee of JC Penney.
The construction of this particular home is the result of two organizations—Thrivent Financial for Lutherans® and Habitat for Humanity® International—joining forces in an unprecedented alliance to not only build walls, but to build community as well. Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, an alliance between these two non-profits, was announced in September, 2005, in Minneapolis, Minn., home to Thrivent Financial’s corporate headquarters. While Thrivent Financial has long been a supporter of Habitat for Humanity, the alliance represents the largest single pledge in the history of either entity and has made possible construction of the Young home in this community. Eighteen area Lutheran churches along with two local Thrivent Chapters, Trinity River Chapter and North Central Texas Chapter, will provide the majority of the volunteer labor needed to complete the project. This is the second consecutive year that Habitat for Humanity of South Collin County has been awarded the Thrivent grant. In 2007 the Thrivent Builds with Habitat home was built in Wylie for the Jackson family.
The four-year, $125-million commitment by Thrivent Financial includes plans to construct hundreds of homes across the country each year, to engage hundreds of thousands of volunteers in Habitat for Humanity builds, to promote short-term Habitat home-building trips abroad and to provide large grants to measurably improve substandard housing in specific neighborhoods. For more information on this unique alliance, visit www.Thriventbuilds.com.
Habitat for Humanity of South Collin County provides decent affordable housing to deserving families in the community. HfHSCC partners with families in need in Allen, Fairview, Lucas, Lowry Crossing, Murphy, Parker, Plano, Saint Paul, TrinityPark, Wylie, and their rural areas. Since 1997, Habitat for Humanity of South Collin County has worked with 35 families to build homes. For more information, visit www.habitat-scc.org or contact Jill Smola, 972-398-0634 x102
