Habitat starts $1.2 million campaign

The Daily Inter Lake

Habitat for Humanity of the Flathead Valley needs your generosity in a big way.

The organization that provides low-cost, interest-free housing for qualified families is launching a $1.2 million capital campaign to fund the biggest building program in its 16-year history.

Working on land donated by the city of Columbia Falls in June 2004, Habitat plans to build as many as six homes.

They will be built on land once designated for a city well, but never used for that purpose.

The six donated lots are just west of the Flathead River in northeast Columbia Falls, in the low-lying original townsite known as Mosquito Flats. It is beyond the north end of Fourth Avenue East and at the foot of a steep bluff.

As part of the project, Habitat also must bring in water and sewer, install street lights and build city-standard streets for the homes. A year ago, those costs alone were estimated at $142,000.

Habitat homes are built with the help of private grants, donations and volunteer work.

The local group is part of Habitat for Humanity International, a worldwide organization that this year reaches a milestone of 200,000 homes built. Those homes in more than 100 countries housed more than 1 million people.

Around the world, a Habitat home is completed every 25 minutes.

In the Flathead, Habitat has built 16 homes and is finishing its 17th and 18th homes - a pair of townhomes in the Sunnyside Subdivision on the south edge of Kalispell.

Habitat Executive Director Jane Leivo said that with the Columbia Falls project, the organization is expanding its capabilities. The goal is to better meet the need for simple, decent housing for working, low-income families.

As in all Habitat efforts, the new project will involve partnerships with the families chosen to become homeowners, as well as with churches, local organizations and businesses.

Each family is expected to contribute a minimum of 500 hours of "sweat equity" to the project, helping with construction or related work.

Homeowners buy their homes, making monthly, interest-free payments.

An advisory council of local civic leaders is being formed to guide the $1.2 million campaign.

"It's an ambitious goal," said Sheila Chipman, who heads the fund-raising effort, "but we are confident that we can meet it, and it will bring a whole new focus and level of energy to our program."

For more information or to help, call the Habitat office at 257-8800 or Chipman at 755-0916.