Weyerhaeuser awards grant to Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity got a $10,000 boost last week from its new neighbors in Columbia Falls, who have picked up where Habitat’s past boosters left off.

Weyerhaeuser awarded a $10,000 grant to Habitat for Humanity on Wednesday, which will help fund the Spring Creek Estates project in Kalispell. Habitat is working to construct five single-family homes in the west Kalispell area at affordable rates.

Habitat for Humanity’s Executive Director Erin Falcon said Plum Creek used to be one of Habitat’s benefactors, donating lumber studs to the nonprofit’s homebuilding projects. Weyerhaeuser, which acquired Plum Creek in February, has now continued the timber industry’s work with the community.

“We have several supports in the area but it’s great that Weyerhaeuser came in and picked up where Plum Creek left off,” Falcon said.

Tom Ray, Montana team leader for the Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund, said Habitat and his company have many of the same goals.

“We felt very strongly about supporting the local community,” Ray said. “It’s so key to give back to them and they really match up with us; the wood products industry.”

Ray said Weyerhaeuser is about to announce a round of grant awards to various organizations in the valley. Last week, the timber giant awarded $10,000 to the Columbia Falls bleacher project, an effort to restore the baseball field that burned down earlier this year.

“We’re very pleased to be able to do it,” Ray said.

THE SPRING Creek Estates project aims to build five residences for families already chosen for the homes, which they help build. The home’s construction costs come to approximately $150,000 and are sold to the families at that cost. The project first began in May 2015 and is scheduled to wrap up in September 2017.

Falcon said the first home is already completed, while the second home is set to open early this month.

“It’s moving along as scheduled,” she said. “The families are all working on their homes.”

With the project moving ahead on schedule, Falcon said the nonprofit is already eying its next project in the Flathead. Locating the right space has been difficult, she said, because the property has to be affordable, while Kalispell’s real estate market is currently constricted. Still, Falcon is confident the next project will be set in motion in 2017.

“We should be buying something shortly and starting a new development, most likely in Kalispell sometime next year,” Falcon said.

Falcon said Habitat for Humanity will hold a home dedication for the most recently built home on Nov. 9.

For more information on Habitat for Humanity in the Flathead, visit www.HabitatFlathead.com.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.