Today, Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity dedicated the home on 60 Azalea Lane. Family partner Courtnay Smith and her family will now be moving into their new home.

Pictured is Amanda Henry (left) presenting Courtnay Smith (right) with a bible.

 

 

 

This home was built amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has overcome the many hardships associated with the virus. We are so grateful to everyone who has helped make this home dedication possible. Pictured below are some of the volunteers who built the home receiving appreciation t-shirts.

We’ve got some exciting news! Next Thursday, May 21, the ReStore will be open to the public! We have a lot of donated inventory, so we’re spending this week organizing, cleaning, and preparing to open so you and your family can have a safe shopping trip. But if you’ve been doing some spring cleaning, we are accepting donations now and would be glad to take any furniture, building materials, or home goods off your hands! Thank you for your continued support!

For the health of our customers, volunteers and staff, please wear a face covering in the store, keep a six-foot distance from others and sanitize often. If you’ve experienced a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other COVID-19 symptoms in the last 24 hours, please stay home. Thank you for understanding.

In order to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, Starkville Habitat for Humanity is taking precautions. As of right now, we are not accepting home applications. All applications submitted at this time will be deferred to a later date when we reopen applications. Although we no longer allow volunteer groups for builds, our construction staff and a few regular volunteers are working on the construction of the home on 60 Azalea Lane. Our crew will work on the home until doors and windows are installed. We are following CDC recommendations at the build site, meaning no more than 10 people will be working at once.

The office will maintain our regular hours, and we will continue to monitor the phone, email and social media. However, due to childcare concerns and the build, please be patient with receiving a response. We will try to respond within 24 hours. We are not accepting physical donations or allowing entry of non-staff at this time. We are still accepting donations through our website.

The ReStore is closed until further notice and not accepting donations. Employees from the ReStore have been offered paid hours at the home build comparable to the hours they receive at the store.

On March 8th, Habitat kicked off our Collegiate Challenge with the groundbreaking for 60 Azalea Lane. Our first week of the challenge is led by volunteers from Rockford University in Rockford, Illinois. Throughout the week, these students and alumni will help build a home for Habitat partner Courtney Smith.

At the groundbreaking, Courtney expressed gratitude for everyone who has helped her in her journey towards being a homeowner.

“It’s been two years,” Courtney said, “but, it has been worth it.”

Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill also spoke, thanking the Rockford volunteers for their continued service to the community.

Our construction manager, John Breazeale thanked the volunteers for donating their time and introduced them to our construction team. If you’d like to join the team and volunteer to help build Courtney’s home, contact our Volunteer Coordinator.