Scott Griffin, left, Southeast region manager for The Campbell Group, presented a $5,000 check to Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity on Thursday. Also pictured are Ron Honea, SFI manager for The Campbell Group, Willie and Joann Davis, whose home is being made possible by the Strategic Forestry Initiative, Fonda Rush, executive director of Habitat, Dot Lloyd, Habitat board member, and Whitney Campbell, Habitat Board president.

    Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity held a press conference Thursday at Citizens National Bank’s Downtown Banking Centre to announce several partnerships formed in their effort to “go green” with their upcoming home building projects.

    Habitat’s partnership with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, The Campbell Group, a local timberland investment management organization and participant in SFI, will be presented Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity with a $5,000 check that will be used for Habitat’s next homebuilding project.

    The Campbell Group is spearheading the project through their “Grow the Good” program, which was created to improve the lives of children in local communities. Other SFI and Tree Farm participants such as Plum Creek, Weyerhaeuser, Norbord, and Mark McDonald (local Tree Farm owner) are making additional donations of certified wood products, which will help meet the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) requirements. Use of the green certified wood products result in a more environmentally friendly home.

    The Mississippi Sustainable Forestry Initiative State Implementation Committee and SFI, Inc. are contributing funds for the project also.

    “Annually, each office of The Campbell Group throughout the United States is given seed money with the goal of growing these funds by obtaining matching donations,” says Ron Honea, Forester and SFI Manager for The Campbell Group’s Southeast Regional Office. The Meridian office of The Campbell Group has partnered with the MS-SFISC to coordinate donations of money, building products, and time, from others in the forest resources community toward the cost of the next Habitat home in Lauderdale County.

    Mark McDonald, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Meridian, is donating logs from his certified tree farm to this project.

    “Our Tree Farm provides for the livelihood of our family, and through this worthy project, it is contributing to an affordable home for another local family, as well,” McDonald said.

    The SFI program’s standard also requires that a qualified logger, who has up-to-date training, harvests the timber. That logger will transport the timber from Plum Creek and McDonald’s forest to the Weyerhauser mill in Philadelphia for processing. The lumber will then be delivered to Clearspan Components in Meridian for the production of prefabricated components such as trusses and wall panels. With the lumber being donated, the fabrication costs for the project are half that of a typical build.

    For Fonda Rush, executive director of Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity, a new appreciation for the impact of Mississippi forest resources has been gained.

    “When we started this project, I did not realize the timber would come from our own community, and now it seems quite natural that we are using local wood products in this build,” said Rush. “Many jobs are affected by a build such as this, and the impact not only benefits one family, but the entire community.”

    This is the 70th home built by the Lauderdale County affiliate since their formation in 1989, and it is the last home to be built as part of the Gulf Coast recovery related to Hurricane Katrina.

    The recipients of this home, Willie and Joann Davis, suffered storm damage from Hurricane Katrina, and this project represents a new home for the couple. The site for the build is located on land where Mr. Davis’s mother’s home once stood.

    “Mr. and Mrs. Davis enjoy cooking and speak fondly of their children and grandchildren, providing witness that generations will be blessed by this home,” Rush said.

    This project is Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity’s first attempt to comply with NGBS requirements. Projects built in this manner will be more energy efficient and use construction materials from renewable resources such as wood grown in a sustainable manner.

    “Although the long-term utility and maintenance savings will offset the extra cost to build in this manner, it still costs more money initially,” explains Honea. “We are grateful to those in the forest resources community who recognize the value of sustainability and are supporting this project.”

    Additional contributions are encouraged, and as build days are organized, volunteers will be needed.

    

Partnership with Auburn University’s School of Architecture

    Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity has also received a $20,000 grant from Habitat International due to their involvement in “Operation Home Delivery (OHD).”

    OHD was a program developed by Habitat for Humanity International for the Gulf Coast recovery after Hurricane Katrina and Rita in 2005.

    Since August 2005, Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity has built 22 new single family homes and rehabilitated five homes from which 17 of those families were affected by Hurricane Katrina.

    Since the Katrina recovery on the Gulf Coast, Habitat affiliates have begun to build “Green” homes as one of the outcomes of disaster recovery. This initiative has been created to design and build better homes to withstand disasters, to be energy efficient, and better for the environment, but still be affordable for low-income families.

    With the OHD grant, Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity will partner with Auburn University’s School of Architecture to design and develop “Green” standard homes for low-income families of East Central Mississippi. This program is called DESIGNhabitat.

    Auburn University has a unique connection to Habitat for Humanity in that Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat, was a graduate of Auburn University.

    Oct. 3 is World Habitat Day. Habitat will dedicate its 500,000th house in Kenya, and raise the walls on its 500,001st house in Paterson, New Jersey.

    The local affiliate of Habitat plans to hold a home dedication that day at 3814 Davis Street for their newest homeowners — Pearlie Byrd, and her two daughters.

    The mission of Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity is to eliminate inadequate and poverty housing and to raise awareness of these issues in Lauderdale County and throughout the world. Lauderdale County Habitat began in 1989 and has placed 69 families into safe, decent homes to date.

Partnership with Citizens National Bank

    Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity and Citizens National Bank have a longstanding relationship. Citizens National Bank provides free administrative assistance to the organization by servicing their 44 Habitat mortgages and provides monthly reporting to the local chapter.

    One of the Bank’s Marketing Officers, Lela Tisdale, also serves as secretary and treasurer of Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity. Several other bank employees have served Habitat in numerous capacities over the years.

    In 2007, the Bank donated a piece of property, located at 810 Church Ave., to the local Habitat affiliate. A local single mother and her three children now have a home on that piece of property.

    As one of the bank’s official Community Partners, the bank also has a section of its website devoted to Habitat. To learn more, visit www.yourcnb.com/habitat. For more information, contact Fonda Rush, executive director of Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity at (601) 485 4992, or by e-mail at fonda@netdoor.com.