By Dylan Elliot Star News Staff
Posted on Oct 8, 2017 at 10:00AM
WILMINGTON — Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity will build a house in 30 hours to celebrate 30 years of service in the Cape Fear region.
A kickoff event will be 3 p.m. Oct. 18 at the site, 2500 Oakley Rd. in Castle Hayne. The actual building will start at 7 a.m. Oct. 19 and should be completed at 1 p.m. the next day.
Habitat will be building the house on behalf of a mother and her 7-year-old son who have dreamed of owning their own home.
Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity has come a long way since its start in 1987. In 30 years, they have served more than 175 hard-working families through the construction or renovation of homes throughout New Hanover and Pender counties.
“We started out like many Habitat facilities, building a house every year. We now have three ReStores, 40 permanent employees and average 12 houses a year,” said Steve Spain, CEO of Habitat for Humanity.
Houses are built by volunteers throughout the year on a smaller scale, but for this ambitious project, Stevens Fine Homes, a local third-generation family construction company, is leading the build and handling most of the expenses.
The build is sponsored by Episcopal High School of Alexandria, Virginia, which has a number of alumni in the area.
Habitat for Humanity has a resume of impressive and speedy building projects, such as the Cornerstone Project, or The Cottages at Cornerstone, and Gideon Pointe, where 40 houses were built over five years from 2008 to 2013, in a series of Blitz Builds, events where Habitat gathers volunteers to construct residences as fast as possible.
Thirty-nine of the homes were built by Habitat for Humanity and one was by AMEZ, another local community development organization founded by local church congregations.
The 30-hour build on Oct. 19 was inspired by the work other Habitat organizations have done around the country.
“We had seen where other Habitat for Humanity had built homes in 24 hours and someone had the same idea for our 30th anniversary. They said, ‘Well, if they can do it in 24 we should be able to do it in 30,’” Spain said.
Spain looks forward to building more clusters of homes like the Cornerstone project, because of the challenges of moving supplies around the busy Wilmington Area.
“Most of our houses have been scattered site housing, some here, some there. At one point this summer we had a house at Oakley Road, one at Hamptead, one more on Masonboro Loop Road, one downtown,” he said. “It’s way easier to have them right next to each other.”
Habitat for Humanity accepts volunteers to help in its mission of serving people who need a decent, affordable place to live.
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