“Informing Cleveland County”
Our Office Will Be Closed July 4 & 5
www.shelbyinfo.com Our 41st Year • Issue No. 27 • July 3, 2024
704-484-1047
Habitat for Humanity Cleveland County offers a Hand UP to home ownership By Alan Hodge Home Sweet Home. That phrase has special meaning to folks who have achieved their dream of home ownership via help from Habitat for Humanity Cleveland County whose motto is “We provide a Hand UP, not a handout”. Habitat for Humanity Cleveland County executive director Amy Allen stated the organization’s core philosophy. “Our mission is seeking to put God’s love into action,” Allen said. “Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Our vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” A perfect example of that credo was manifested recently with the dedication of two new homes in the Young Oak Square neighborhood of Shelby. The first dedication was June 9 and the second on June 22, 2024. The story began in July, 2023 when five Cleveland County congregations partnered to help build a Habitat House in Young Oak Square. The home was dedicated a little less than one year later. The five congregations that entered this partnership were
New Habitat for Humanity Cleveland County homeowner Ashley Clark and her two sons at her house dedication on June 9, 2024. The house was framed by Habitat’s annual Women’s Build. Seen with Clark is Romelle Blanton, board member of Habitat for Humanity in Cleveland County. She is a member of their Family Selection Committee and read a Litany of Dedication at the home dedication on that day. Clark was also presented with a Bible. (Photos provided)
Eastside Baptist Church, New Creation Christian Center, Ryburn Memorial Presbyterian Church, St. Mary’s Help of Christians Catholic Church, and Shelby Presbyterian Church. Together the five churches
provided more than 160 volunteers who worked primarily on two Saturdays each month over the course of that year. Donating nearly 2,000 volunteer hours, these congregants framed walls, nailed up exterior sheathing, assisted with
electrical installation, added all siding on the outside of the house, installed windows and doors, painted the entire inside of the house, laid vinyl flooring, put in interior doors, trim, and baseboards, hung cabinets and shelving, and installed ap-
See HABITAT, Page 6
These are the two Young Oak Square homes recently dedicated.
Your Heating & Cooling Experts Since 1977
pliances. Additional workdays with regular volunteers every Tuesday and Thursday provided the time needed to complete the project. In addition to the contribution of volunteer labor, the churches raised $115,000 to assist the local Habitat Affiliate with the building of several homes. Former Eastside Baptist pastor Rev. Dale Byrd talked about the church’s involvement. “It has been awesome to see how God coordinated this Church Partnership Build,” Byrd said. “God sparked the idea from a simple informational meeting about the mission of Habitat where He gave a couple of pastors the idea of partnering together to build a home. Then before long five churches had committed to the partnership and soon the work began. Now, less than a year later, the home is complete. Go God!” The two partner families of the Young Oak Square houses are Ashley Clark and Tachika Poston,” Allen said. “They were selected in June of 2022. During the last two years they have put in over 200 hours of ‘sweat equity’ in their new home. There is a third house at Young Oak Square that is in the dry and we hope to have completed by the beginning of 2025. We named this project Young Oak Square as we are building three houses at the corner of Young and Oak Streets. In April of this year, four new partner families were selected. One of those families will build at the third location at Young Oak Square while the other three will be at our next location on East Warren Street, Shelby.” Poston expressed gratitude at being a new Habitat homeowner. “This opportunity of homeownership has been a slow
$ up to
1776off
Any New Unit Purchased Through July 17, 2024! • Locally Owned For Over 45 Years • Factory-Trained, Licensed & Insured Technicians • 24/7/365 Emergency Service
License #M32386
Commercial • Residential • Sales • Service
704-487-7877 www.shelbyheating.com