Helping the Helpers: With building sites quiet and stores closed, Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley needs help
Founded in 1990, Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley built its first home in 1991. Based in Elgin, it serves parts of Kane, Cook and McHenry counties, including St. Charles, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Barrington, South Elgin, Elgin, Carpentersville, Algonquin, Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills.
Like other social service agencies, Habitat has fallen on difficulties due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Daily Herald checked in with development manager Kim McIver, who is responsible for fundraising, to learn more about how the organization has been affected.
Q. Who does your nonprofit serve, and how do you serve them?
A. Since its inception, the Northern Fox Valley affiliate has built or rehabbed and sold 120 homes and has helped more than 127 low-income families through our Homeownership Program. Northern Fox Valley homes are sold at no profit and no interest is charged on the mortgage. To maintain affordability, mortgage payments do not exceed 30% of a homeowner's income.
Q. From where do the majority of your donations come?
A. Funding comes from a variety of different revenue streams. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley has a very successful ReStore in Elgin and is in the process of opening a second location in Arlington Heights. In addition to our ReStores, Habitat works with local and national sponsors to secure home sponsorships for each of the homes we build in addition to hosting teams three times a week on our jobsites.
Q. Is there an annual fundraising event?
A. Our annual fundraising event is our Women Build event. Women Build was just held this past March and empowers women to come together and help build one of our homes. This year, we hosted more than 70 women during a five-day period.
Q. About how many people per year does your agency help?
A. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley serves roughly 10 families a year through our Homeownership Program. We help anywhere from 55 to 60 families through our Home Preservation Project every year.
Q. How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your organization and its ability to help those in need?
A. Due to COVID-19, we have had to close both ReStores, in addition to all of our job sites. Habitat was set to sell about seven homes within the next couple of months to families who have been waiting for a very long time. On average it takes Habitat for Humanity about nine months to build a home from start to finish. In addition to the construction, our partner families are asked to complete 250 hours of sweat equity on their home before we are able to sell them the home. Many of our families have completed those hours, and are just waiting for the construction to finish. We have been closed for over a month, which means we have missed the opportunity to host 12 corporate/faith build teams on our job site during COVID-19.
Q. How can readers help?
A. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley currently cannot host teams on our job sites, which means when the stay-at-home order is lifted, we will need support from the public in completing our construction projects. We are also looking for any corporate/faith organizations that would like to come out and build alongside us. Habitat for Humanity asks for a $2,500 contribution for the build day to cover material that will be used for the day of building.
Q. If someone is in need of your organization's help, what should they do?
A. They can reach out to Barbara Beckman, executive director for Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley.
Q. How can readers reach someone at your organization if they have questions?
They can reach out to us by calling (847) 836-1432 or visiting habitatnfv.org.
About this series
“Helping the Helpers” is a series of short stories on how you can support suburban social service agencies impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Know of a nonprofit or agency we should feature? Email sklovstad@dailyherald.com.