On Thursday, May 14, Habitat for Humanity St. Lucie & Okeechobee, Inc. (HFHSLO) celebrated the groundbreaking of a new ...
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OKEECHOBEE — On Thursday, May 14, Habitat for Humanity St. Lucie & Okeechobee, Inc. (HFHSLO) celebrated the groundbreaking of a new home on Northeast 15th Avenue in Douglas Park. This was their first groundbreaking ceremony in Okeechobee since expanding to include Okeechobee County in their services. It was made possible by a grant from the South Florida PGA Foundation.
President of the South Florida PGA Foundation Tom Wildenhaus was present for the occasion and seemed excited to be a part of the project. “We’re very excited to be here today,” he said. “We look forward to helping build this home as well as being a part of this community as this home goes up.”
HFHSLO Executive Director Bob Calhoun opened the ceremony with a prayer and expressed his enthusiasm to get the project underway. “This is a great morning for Habitat and a great morning for Okeechobee,” Bob said. “It’s been a while since Habitat has built a new home here in Okeechobee City or county but we’re here!”
Also in attendance to share her personal experience was Lourdia Dunkley, a homeowner of a home built by Habitat for Humanity. “My experience with Habitat has been really great. I love what they’re doing for the community,” she shared. “When I got my house, I was a single mother at the time and I was going to school. For four years while I was going to school, I was living in an apartment.”
Lourdia explained that the area she was living in before she received her Habitat for Humanity home had a lot of crime and she felt that it was not good place to raise her daughter. As luck would have it, a client she worked with had some experience with Habitat for Humanity and told her all about it. It was then that she decided to apply for a home herself in hopes of providing her daughter with a better life.
Lourdia’s family is one of the many whose lives have been impacted and improved with the help of Habitat for Humanity and their volunteers.
Habitat for Humanity is a Christian housing organization and one of the leading global nonprofits working in more than 70 countries. They partner with families to help them build affordable housing while also promoting self-reliance. In addition to building homes from the ground up, they also work to rehabilitate homes. HFHSLO has built or rehabilitated more than 100 homes and repaired over 180 homes in the St. Lucie and Okeechobee communities.
Construction of the new home is scheduled to begin in fall of this year and applications for it will begin processing later this summer.
To learn more about HFHSLO, or to donate or volunteer, visit www.habitatslo.house.
