Habitat For Humanity Breaks Ground On 2 New Woodstock Homes

The Andoh and Saunders families marked an important milestone in the construction of their new homes on July 18, 2017. The homes will be located in Woodstock with two other Habitat for Humanity-North Central Georgia homes. Representatives from Habitat-North Central Georgia, Thrivent Financial, church sponsors, and the families were in attendance. The groundbreaking also marks the start of construction on Habitat-North Central Georgia’s 300th home!

One of these new homes is a result of Thrivent members Living Generously through the partnership between Habitat for Humanity International and Thrivent Financial called Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity. The partnership has empowered Thrivent members and other volunteers to help build or repair over 4,000 Habitat homes across the country since 2005.

In addition, over 1,000 home building trips have taken place internationally and domestically through the Thrivent Builds Worldwide program. Thanks to the more than 2.3 million members of Thrivent Financial, and other volunteers, Thrivent Builds is able to contribute to the improvement of communities like Woodstock.

Thrivent Financial contributed $60,000 for the Saunders’ home, and is also engaging local volunteers who are members of Thrivent Financial, members of area churches and members of the community as a whole, to donate additional funds and volunteer their time to work alongside the partner families to build these homes.

Other sponsors of this ecumenical build of two homes include Blessed Trinity Catholic School, Northbrook United Methodist Church, Roswell Presbyterian Church, Roswell United Methodist Church, St. David’s Episcopal Church, St. Peter Chanel Catholic Church, Alpharetta First United Methodist Church, Mount Pisgah School, Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church, St. Brigid Catholic Church, St. James United Methodist Church, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, and Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

“The Thrivent Builds program provides Habitat with more options to serve our area. With my colleagues, Financial Associates Jennifer Yankowsky and Patrick DeLuca, I am excited to partner with Habitat on this build to put God’s love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope so that everyone has a decent place to live,” said Gregory Sinatra, a Financial Consultant with Thrivent Financial and Habitat-North Central Georgia board member.

The families are excited to finish construction of their new home. They will complete 200 hours of “sweat equity” helping to build it, a basic tenet of Habitat for Humanity. They will also repay the no-profit mortgage, illustrating Habitat for Humanity’s objective to give families a “hand up” rather than a “hand out.”

To learn more, visit www.thriventbuilds.com.

Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity is a mission partnership between Thrivent Financial and Habitat for Humanity International. Thrivent Builds is designed to involve Thrivent members and Christians in helping provide a “hand up” to people in need of affordable housing, offering them a path to greater economic independence. Excluding government funding, Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity is Habitat's largest single source of funding. Through the program Thrivent members have built or repaired more than 4,000 homes in the U.S. and participated on over 1,000 international and domestic home building trips since 2005. For more information, visit ThriventBuilds.com.

Thrivent Financial is a financial services organization that helps Christians be wise with money and live generously. We offer a broad range of products and services – including life insurance, annuities and mutual funds – along with guidance from financial representatives nationwide. For more than a century we’ve helped our more than 2.3 million member-owners make wise money choices that reflect their values. And we provide opportunities for them to be even more generous where they live, work and worship. . For more information, visit Thrivent.com. Also, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Habitat for Humanity International’s vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Anchored by the conviction that housing provides a critical foundation for breaking the cycle of poverty, Habitat has helped more than 4 million people construct, rehabilitate or preserve homes since 1976. Habitat also advocates to improve access to decent and affordable shelter and supports a variety of funding models that enable families with limited resources to make needed improvements on their homes as their time and resources allow. As a nonprofit Christian housing organization, Habitat works in more than 70 countries and welcomes people of all races, religions and nationalities to partner in its mission. For more information, to donate or to volunteer, please visit Habitat.org, or follow us http://www.facebook.com/habitat or at Twitter.com/habitat.org or join Habitat’s blog community at Habitat.org/blog.

Habitat for Humanity - North Central Georgia is a non-profit, Christian housing ministry that builds simple, decent homes for purchase by low- to moderate-income families who demonstrate a capacity for responsible homeownership. Since its inception in 1995, Habitat-NCG has completed 291 homes, serving over 1,075 family members in North Fulton, Cherokee and Forsyth/Dawson counties. Each family is required to attend six educational classes and perform 200-300 sweat equity hours. Families earn between 30% and 60% of the Atlanta area median income and purchase their homes from Habitat which provides them with a 30-year, no-interest loan. Family members work side by side with the volunteers, sponsors, and Habitat staff to build their homes. These families not only get to experience the pride of homeownership but they also know that their lives will be changed forever. In addition to new home construction, Habitat North Central Georgia started a home repair program in 2014. To date, 29 repair projects have been completed serving veterans and seniors. For more information on Habitat for Humanity-North Central Georgia, please visit www.habitat-ncg.org.

Photo: The photo shows Gregory Sinatra, Financial Consultant for Thrivent Financial and Habitat-North Central Georgia board member, Orlon Daniels from St. David's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth Andoh, the future homeowner, and her friend, Harriett, Jennifer Yankowsky, Financial Advisor for Thrivent Financial, and Mark Susor, Board Chair for Habitat for Humanity-North Central Georgia.