Community Impact Project
Habitat for Humanity of Horry County is known for building homes, but did you know that we also restore communities? Our Neighborhood Revitalization program brings opportunities to partner with residents who want to make their neighborhood a better place to live for all of their neighbors.
Our partnership with the Booker T Washington Neighborhood Coalition has been a catalyst for our critical home repair work, which preserves the healthy and safe housing stock of the neighborhood. A few months into our critical home repair launch, resident leaders presented us with a project idea.
When riding or walking around the neighborhood, many resident leaders noticed little things that needed love – like flickering or rusting porch lights or leaning mailboxes with peeling paint. They wanted to do something small for each homeowner that would make a noticeable impact on the entire neighborhood when added all together. This is how the Community Impact Project came to fruition.
Every resident of BTW had the opportunity to receive a new mailbox, house numbers, or porch light. These items may seem small, but their contribution to an overall felt sense of wellness and safety is significant!
After Habitat for Humanity of Horry County committed the funding. The resident leaders in the coalition hit the street to collect product requests. They went out in groups to knock on doors for multiple weeks to connect with their neighbors, talk about their community, and gain their participation in the project.
67 homeowners decided to jump into the project, and Habitat volunteers got to work!
Thanks to a coalition that loves their neighbors, BTW residents can walk in their neighborhood and notice a little bit more light and wellness in their community. The mailperson actually stopped their route to thank volunteers for making their job safer with new mailboxes! Homes with new house numbers are easier to locate for visitors.
This project served the most families in a single effort in the history of our affiliate. We are so glad to have the leadership of the coalition to bring these partnership opportunities to the table, for the significant funding partnerships like Bank of America to make this possible, for the incredible volunteers like Realty One Dockside, and for the willing residents who jumped in on the unified effort to give their streets a little lift.
