Is this your Habitat month?
By KATHLEEN MCKEVITT

The question from Bobbi Tower, officer in the Blairsville Habitat for Humanity group is "would you be willing to devote one month of special collections, work, scouting for property, wielding a hammer, asking your kids to think creatively about how to use their loose change in a ready-made bank to pay for some square footage to make a new home for some family who really needs it?"

Applications from people who need a home are up considerably this year. The application is based on 1.need (when a

family is cost-burdened), 2. ability to pay at least an interest free mortgage payment 3. a willingness to participate in the building of the home. A20-year mortgage is typical.

The first Habitat home was built here in 1990. Back then the home alone cost around $40,000. Around 2004, the cost was $50,000, and today, it's $60,000 for construction only. Habitat always hopes for land to be donated, but much of the donations requested also go to the purchase of land. Presently, Habitat has need for buildable land in Towns County.

Today's meeting was directed at churches and clergy, a program called Apostles Build. Habitat is asking for a single church or groups of

churches together to do what they can to raise $5000.00 toward the building of the home for which they already have land.

The Habitat office also needs a good copier.

The "Bowl-a-thon" fund raiser held early this summer brought in $7000. One church raised $3000 with the collection banks provided by Habitat, and much of that came from children. It costs $54.54 a square foot to build a house, so

anyone willing to write a check for that much, have a dinner, a rummage sale, a raffle or anything that will help out,will bring the project one step closer to reality. Individuals and groups are encouraged to donate through their churches or directly to Habitat.

The Habitat office is next to the Blue Ridge EMC office in Young Harris, and is open from 9:00 to 12:00, Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.