Annual Report - Habitat for Humanity International

22
Nearly four decades since Habitat
began building, thousands of homeowners
have paid off their mortgages.
Gloria and Ernie Penner have spent
25 years in their home, which was the
first Habitat house built on Canadian
soil. As a young couple, they struggled
to raise two small children in a tiny
two-bedroom apartment before moving
into their home.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL FY2012 ANNUAL REPORT
Now mortgage-free, they plan to
pass the house on to their son, Tim.
Their daughter, Christine, is married
and raising her own children in a home
about half a kilometer down the road
from her childhood home.
“We got this house and we never
really looked back,” Gloria said. “This
home helped our family stay together.”
JOHN SIMS
Jadea Howard, 4, enjoys the simple pleasure of playing
outside her family’s Habitat home in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Her parents, Colecia and Eric Howard, became
Habitat partners when the previous owners donated the
house back so that another family could experience the
life-changing benefits of a stable, secure home.
Jed Hefner was 7 when his family
moved into a Habitat house in Little
Rock, Arkansas, in 1990. As an adult,
Hefner served eight years in the U.S.
Marine Corps Reserves and earned an
MBA from the University of Arkansas
before launching a successful career as
a business analyst. His sister, Deborah
Hefner Guzman, is an architect. She’s
working on a master’s degree in sustainable
development and construction.
“I want to do the kind of architecture
that gives back,” she said.
Jed and Deborah both believe their
success can be traced back to that house.
“Little things make a big difference in
the way you define yourself, your identity
as a person,” Jed said. “Like having a
place to study. Not having to worry about
finding enough blankets so that you don’t
freeze. Just having safety and security.
“Those fundamentals are the building
blocks.”
When their mother died in 2008,
Jed and Deborah decided to give the
house back to Habitat so that it could
be rehabilitated for a new family in
need. And in 2009, Jed personally
handed over the house keys to Eric
Howard, a supply technician at Baptist
Medical Center who had volunteered at
Habitat build sites since he was 16. Now
23, he and his wife, Colecia, are raising
their three children in this house.
“It’s what our mom would have
wanted,” Jed said.
One story ends, and another begins.