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News 12 Staff

921spotlightnj2_2024-09-21-09-34-20

Warren County Habitat For Humanity is celebrating 25 years. Congratulations to them. Ben Esau is executive director Britney Powell is volunteer services and public relations manager. There are two things we wanna talk about restore and the height. Yes. So our restore is um just absolutely bursting with activity. As per usual, we celebrated our uh I believe it was um our 13th anniversary this year or 12th or 13th. Um which is amazing to think about. We're celebrating our 25 years as an affiliate and then 12 or 13 years of the restore itself. And uh the, the business model for the restore is we, we take in um donated products, whether it's used furniture or um decor books, games. Uh Just anything you can think of lighting fixtures, we have a lot of paintings and it's really a beautiful store. You go in there and you um you can purchase pretty much anything, you know, you could think of in there. Um Recently we uh opened up our second retail location, which we are um calling the hut and that stands for hand up treasures. So we say at Habitat For Humanity, we offer a hand up, not a hand out like that. And the, the hut kind of reflects that part of our mission. And this is located on Belvedere Avenue in Washington, actually, right across from our community center and office location and they focus purely on uh clothing items. So clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry. Um we were getting so much donated to the restore that we had the ability to open up a new store and have that be the main focus of it. And both of those stores are wildly successful and we're very excited to be able to um you know, be, be so present in the community. In that way, these volunteers work with hope in the hills of Warren. This is a community extension of Warren County Habitat for humanity. The goal is to improve the living conditions of the elderly, low income and disabled persons. Volunteers work on resident owned homes within the Warren Hills sending district in southern Warren County, labor and materials are free to qualifying households. Ben talks more about the hut program coming up at noon.

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921spotlightnj3real_2024-09-21-12-21-53

Ben Esau is the executive director of the Warren County Habitat for Humanity. Britney Pinson is volunteer services and public relations manager. They are joining me today, Ben, you had a thought about the hut that you wanted to share with us. Yeah, that acronym that we adopted was hand up treasures. And it really is the restore in general, whether it's local for us in Warren County or across the country really is like a giant treasure hunt. It's amazing, the types of things and finds that you could come across as you're looking for. Whether it is that lumber or hardware project, whether it's fern. Sure Decor, whether it's clothing, but it has a lot of variety of things that you would otherwise never expect. So if someone hasn't been to the restore, we strongly encourage them to go take a look, knowing that the proceeds that are coming through the restore, go back into our home building and home ownership program. So it's got a lot of that treasure piece is very real. It sounds like a lot of very real. You also have a community center. We do tell us about that. Sure. So that is again uh located on Belvedere Avenue in Washington. And um it really is uh it serves the community. It's, it kind of plays off of that mission statement, uh building homes, communities and hope and we bring in, I think this year it was about uh over 8000 people attended events at the community center, whether it was uh an exercise event, a workout class like uh Zumba Yoga. Um We also have a bunch of crafting events for ages 5 to 75. We have children's crafts uh a, a fun monthly event called Toddler Time. Um where a bunch of kids get to come in and it gets really loud. It's a blast. Honestly, there's dance parties, there's story time, there's tons of balloons and fun things for them to play with. Um And it's, it's really neat for us especially to tie it back into Warren County habitat for humanity where these are Children who are just simply coming to this place to hang out with. People have fun play and in the future, you know, when they get to high school age, they might see that their high school has a, a youth chapter for Habitat for humanity and say, you know, huh I remember I had a really great experience there when I was a kid um where their parents could tell them about it and that helps turn them into advocates as well. And um people who just love the mission and uh we want them to love the mission, as much as we love the community and as much as we love sharing what we do with them.

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922spotlightnj4_2024-09-22-09-23-29

We are putting the spotlight on Warren County Habitat for Humanity. Ben Esau, executive director, Britney Powelson, volunteer services and public relations manager. Let's talk about your home ownership programs and construction repair. All of that. Yeah, that's a big piece of habitat for humanity and kind of the lifeblood and bread and butter to what we do. Uh We take a look at home or families, I should say there in the community that are in need of safe and affordable housing and we qualify them. So these homes aren't just freely given away. Um There's a lot that's involved in the selection process. It's very well vetted out. We do take a look at income. We take a look at credit, but it doesn't mean that we're a traditional lender in the sense that we're qualifying people so stringently but rather understanding their story and everybody's story is really different of how they got to where they got and why they're there and what they're hoping to do and accomplish as a family unit. And that can take a shape in a number of different forms and fashions. And we've gotten to see that over the 25 years here at habitat. So we work with families then on building and providing a safe and affordable home. We'll end up having a dedication ceremony where the keys get handed off to the homeowner, which is, that just hits really hard. Right. It's very special. And, uh, it's really just the beginning of their trip. Um, as a homeowner, uh, there's a lot of work that got put into that point. We have volunteer crews coming out. Those family members are putting in sweat equity hours, they're investing their own time into their home builds and they're gonna have a mortgage at the end of the day too. It's just, uh, effectively a 0% interest mortgage at whatever their ability to pay is, which is how the program works. So then as habitat gets those payments back, those mortgage payments, it goes back into building more safe and affordable housing for more families. It's kind of like a pay it forward and the home repair programs, a spin off really of that. There are people that are trying to stay in their homes and there's different challenges for how they're able to make that happen, whether there's a significant repair like major roof work or H VAC work or foundation work. Um, sometimes it's more minor work where we're doing what's called a touch of kindness. We're going around and we're fixing somebody's deck, we're fixing, um, up somebody's walkway, we're putting in handrails, grab bars, uh, handicap and accessibility modifications to people's homes so that they could stay in their home. And that uh has really, really exploded because the need is so great. It, it doesn't take much to just drive around your neighborhood wherever you may live and see that there are some homes that are in disrepair and because those people couldn't afford to keep up uh with those homes, but they're trying to stay in them and they're fighting a, a fight where they just need a helping hand or a hand up. And that's where those two programs really kind of come into play.

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922spotlightnj5_2024-09-22-09-24-46

Upstairs back to the cornfield. This is Warren County Habitat for Humanity at work. Don't you love that video? Ben Esau is the executive director Britney Powelson is volunteer services and public relations manager. Tell us all about what's going on. Absolutely. So, and you, uh as you saw in that video, um that is a group of our uh very dedicated volunteers. They are all volunteers. Um It's pretty exciting. You can actually see in one of those shots. Um One of our homeowner families, our partner families, um walking around, helping out, they are raising the walls of their next home. I love that. Raising the walls. Yes. Yeah. That is one of our favorite parts in the, uh in the building process is when you actually get to raise the walls and see the home just come to life before you. Um So we are incredibly grateful for all of the uh volunteer hours that our volunteers have put into this. Whether they are, um, you know, our regular volunteer crew, we have a lot of uh schools come out, you can come out with a corporate group or whoever you would like. There is an absolute need for volunteers right now. So, if you, you know, of a group or anybody who you'd wanna bring out, uh, it can be a church group organization, anything like that. Then, uh, you can reach out to us at Warren habitat.org. And, uh, we'd be happy to get you on site. Do you get volunteers of all ages? Oh, all ages. Yeah. Absolutely. And to Britney's point, our construction is that the need is greater than it's ever been. Frankly, the housing crisis in New Jersey is as great as it's ever been. I know we're fighting against that and we're trying to help provide more safe and affordable housing right here in Warren County, we're, uh, getting ready to kick off a extensive project where we're building three duplexes or six units. Uh, it's being dubbed Franklin Village. We're excited to see that foundation and all those walls all going up at once. It's gonna take an army to do it and get it done. Um, at the same time, we're building a home right now in Germany township and that's a single family home. And at the end of the day, there's just more and more families that are getting service through this home building program, but it takes a ton of volunteers. A lot of partners, municipalities, the state of New Jersey, this opportunity right here to be able to share with your viewers. Uh, the great need that there is with when it comes to safe and affordable housing.

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922spotlightnj6_2024-09-22-12-21-41

Warren County Habitat for Humanity is celebrating 25 years. Ben Asal, executive director, Brittney Powell, volunteer services and public relations manager. Where do you all see yourself going? Now? It's funny. You look back first, right. You look at the last 25 years that we've just had here and we have a great program that got taken off the ground and homes being constructed. We've added a repair program, we've added a restore a second store. We've added a community center and the organization and the need has just grown so much to the point where we're looking to expand our services and programs even further where we can hopefully be constructing a lot more homes at a faster rate. So some of the new things that we're looking at are exploring partnerships when it comes to modular construction to help speed up because habitat while we're all about home building and home ownership, it's really about the family, it starts there. It's uh that's really where it all comes back to is how can we help these families uh get into a position where they, they're able to help themselves too and to be able to change the future and the trajectory, not just of their own lives, but their children's lives. And those are the stories that we get to hear as we're going here. So as we look to expand, we're trying to figure out new ways, new partners, new volunteers that we can incorporate um with the hopes that we can get more projects going in multiple municipalities all at the same time. Uh We're actually going to be partnering up here with our friends in Sussex County in New Jersey, where we're gonna be uh servicing out in Sussex County now as well. Um We're really excited about that coming into 2025 and we're really pumped up about the opportunities that should, that should provide us. It's also about sharing the message of habitat. There's a lot of work that needs to be done in the realm of advocacy, work and sharing the needs so that people are educated and understand what's going on here within our own homes, our own backyards. And how can they be a pa a part of the solution and working together? And some of the opportunities we've had to be able to share with today have shown a number of people coming out to a site to a store, to a community center and banding together, rallying together to provide that hope. And we're just, we're really excited to see that take shape and root and to hear those really transformational stories in the future and getting to hear about the person that was at one point not even having a home of their own to where now, not only do they own a home, but their kids have now grown up through the program. Those kids are giving back, they're getting scholarships to colleges, they're giving back to the local fire department. They're getting married and having kids of their own. And we're now getting to see those stories of hope and that's the hope that we have to be able to share that. It's fantastic.

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Ben Eskow and Brittany Powelson joined News 12’s Della Crews to discuss how the organization is creating new projects to boost affordable housing.

Spotlight New Jersey: Warren County Habitat for Humanity celebrates 25 years

Ben Eskow and Brittany Powelson joined News 12’s Della Crews to discuss how the organization is creating new projects to boost affordable housing.

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