History of Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County

In December 1990, a small group began to organize a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Baldwin County.  A renovated home in Stapleton in 1991 became the first house ever dedicated and, on July 1, 1992, affiliate status was granted by Habitat for Humanity International.

During the next few years another house was renovated and three more houses were constructed from the “ground up.”  From 1997-1999, eight houses were completed and in 2000 six new homes were constructed.  All of this was accomplished entirely with volunteers, with the exception of a part-time office employee.

During the past couple of years, we have increased our staffing to enable us to expand our building activities.  As our infrastructure has grown to better meet our mission, we have been able to adapt and change from a “small” affiliate to a “medium sized” affiliate.  Because the real estate market and poverty housing is constantly morphing, we must stay willing and open to change to meet current demands without becoming stagnant.  We must continue to move forward.  Our ability to meet the needs of our neighbors is revealed in our growth pattern; we averaged 5 homes per year from 2000 – 2004, increasing to 7 homes in 2005 and 10 homes in 2006.  Aware of the dangers of both remaining stationary and growing too quickly, we have engaged in strategic planning to help identify the pros and cons of our actions.

Since inception, our Baldwin County affiliate has been housed in a variety of ways; from a Sunday school classroom, donated office space, a small leased office suite, a foreclosure property purchased in conjunction with the South Baldwin Literacy Council to our current building, an office space and attached warehouse completely owned by Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County.  This space, purchased in December, 2006, allows this affiliate to have room for offices and construction projects as well as providing land for us to accommodate Habitat for Humanity Care-A-Vanners.

During the summer of 2003, we embarked on a new source of funding by opening a Habitat ReStore.  The Restore is a retail outlet selling new and used building materials and household items.  It started in a 4,000 square foot commercial building and quickly outgrew its walls!  On July 28, 2006, the ReStore relocated to its current location on Highway 59 in Robertsdale.  The new 12,000 square foot store, complete with Quonset hut, has not only provided a significant source of funding, but has increased the awareness of our mission.  Donations of inventory and ReStore sales have exceeded our expectations largely due to the central location and the ability to store and display more items.

Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County engages in many of the programs offered by Habitat for Humanity International to further our goal to eliminate poverty housing.  The Collegiate Challenge program links college students wanting to donate their time during school breaks with affiliates throughout the country.  The Baldwin County affiliate began participating in 2004 and maintains a flourishing relationship with this program.  Another HfH International program that has been successfully utilized by this affiliate is the Care-A-Vanners.  The HfH Care-A-Vanners are a group of individuals who travel in their RV’s to Habitat sites around the world and participate in every aspect of the Habitat mission, not only construction.  Being a southern United States coastal affiliate, we have a large number of Care-A-Vanners who visit our area, some staying for a week and some staying all winter!  We have developed many long term relationships through this program.  We also utilize Habitat for Humanity International training seminars, roundtable meetings on different aspects of affiliate life, cards and recognition awards, Partnernet, pre-written manuals, etc.  They are a wealth of good information!

In 2003 we were able to partner with Wise Recycling in Foley, AL to expand our participation in the nationwide Cans for Habitat program run by the National Aluminum Association.  This program encourages individuals and groups to collect aluminum cans and donate the money collected to a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate.  Wise Recycling has made this process even easier by setting up a Habitat account.  If an individual or group brings their cans to Wise and tells them the cans are for Habitat, Wise will send a check to Habitat on behalf of the individual or group, eliminating the need for the individual or group to make the trip to the office to donate the funds generated.

Through calendar year 2006, we have built and dedicated 55 homes in Baldwin County.  As we continue on our mission, we welcome you to join us.

BALDWIN HABITAT TIMELINE

HOME #	PHOTO	DATE	TYPE	FAMILY	LOCATION	MORE INFO
56		2007	New	Sedlack	Loxley	4th Presbyterian Build
55			New	Metoxen	Bon Secour	5th Realtor Build
54			New	Brown/Johnson	Stockton	2nd Episcopal Build
53			New	Korte	Summerdale	1st Apostles Build
52			New	Imelis	Foley	Home Builders Blitz 2006 Sponsored by the Baldwin County Home Builders Association
51*			New	Fairhope		1st BES Inc., Engineers and Architects build
50			New	Welker/Woods	Perdido	3rd Reformed Church In America Build
49			New	Moseley	Perdido	2nd Reformed Church In America Build
48			New	Malone	Fairhope	7th Women Build
47			New	Sledge	Foley
46		2006	New	Davison	Foley	1st Reformed Church In America Build
45			New	Keith/Hinson	Foley
44			New	Anderson	Robertsdale	4th Realtor Build
43			New	Dade	Loxley	2nd Methodist Build
42			New	Rye	Foley
41			New	Prim	Foley	1st Framing pkg. Kiwanis Club
40			New	Mims	Robertsdale	6th Women Build
39		2005	New	Autry	Robertsdale	3rd Presbyterian Build
38			New	Kellett	Elberta
37			New	Mendez	Foley
36			New	Rodriguez	Foley	1st Episcopal Build
35			New	Robinson	Foley	5th Women Build
34		2004	New	Henton	Foley
33			New	Curtis	Foley	3rd Realtor Build
32			New	Holmes	Foley	1st Methodist Build
31			New	Porter	Foley
30			New	Boyett	Foley
29			New	Melendez	Foley	4th Women Build
28		2003	New	Wix	Elberta
27			New	Leonard	Elberta	2nd Realtor Build
26			New	Flecha	Loxley	2nd Presbyterian Build
25			New	Rigsby	Foley
24		2002	New	Cook	Lillian	3rd Women Build
23			New	Sledge	Summerdale	1st Realtor Build
22			New	Johnson	Loxley
21			New	Rencher	Loxley
20			New	Thompson	Foley	2nd Women Build
19		2001	New	Prim	Foley
18			New	Smith	Foley
17			New	Trotter	Silverhill	3rd B. C. HomeBuilders
16			New	Williams Bay	Minette
15			New	Williams	Foley	1st Women Build
14			New	McCall (Teachout)	Foley
13		2000	New	Johnson (Ewing)	Foley
12		1999	New	Littles	Fairhope	2nd B. C. HomeBuilders
11			New	Donnelly	Loxley
10			New	Lamar	Foley	1st Chapman Building Systems home
9		1998	New	Cabarrubia	Bon Secour
8		1997	New	Dennis	Foley	1st B. C. HomeBuilders
7		1996	New	Burke	Foley	1st panelized walls
6			New	Rios	Marlow
5		1995	New	Tolbert	Loxley
4			Renovation	Franklin	Perdido Beach
3		1994	New	Bel	Lillian	1st Presbyterian Build
2		July 1993	New	Mitchell	Fairhope
1		June 1991	Renovation	Chastang	Stapleton