Holiday Spirit Shines Following Theft At Renton Habitat For Humanity Construction Site

 Habitat for Humanity of East King County has received an overwhelming amount of support from the community after

"It's like the final scene from It's a Wonderful Life," said Tom Granger, Executive Director of Habitat EKC. "Thanks to the community's generosity we will be able to replace all the tools that were stolen and we will put in a security system to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Longtime supporters, new contributors and even corporate sponsors responded to the unfortunate incident by donating over $15,000 worth of cash and $4,000 worth of tools to help Habitat get back to building. Bank of America sent in a check for $4,000 and The Mosaic Company hand delivered a $4,000 check upon learning the news.

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation is one of the largest corporate donors on the La Fortuna Project, and their employees have volunteered more than 1,200 hours onsite this year.

"We are deeply committed to La Fortuna and Habitat's work in our community, and when we learned of the theft, we knew we had to respond quickly to ensure that the expectant home owners weren't faced with uncertainly and that everyone could resume construction as quickly as possible." said Bob Peters, Washington State president for Bank of America.

Other corporate donors include Complete Concrete, PCL Construction, Genie Industries and Schnitzer Steel.

"We are incredibly blessed by a very generous community who support the Habitat for Humanity mission and are eager and willing to help us when we need them," said Granger.

More About Habitat for Humanity International:Habitat for Humanity surpassed its 500,000 house milestone during its most recent fiscal year. Since the nonprofit was founded in 1976, its self-help, hand-up model has resulted in rehabbed, repaired or new housing for more than 2 million people worldwide. Habitat EKC is part of this global effort.

Since 1988, Habitat EKC has built 111 new homes and rehabbed or repaired other houses for low income families in our community. The East King County service area incorporates the regions east of Lake Washington. The goal of this affiliate is to make it possible for low-income residents of King County to be able to purchase simple, decent, and affordable homes on the Eastside. The families who will move into these homes will put in 500 hours of their own labor as a down payment towards homeownership. Visit habitatekc.org to learn more.

*Editor's Note: Information provided by Habitat for Humanity.