Benton Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to bring people together to make decent homes achievable for everyone in our community. Founded in 1991, Benton Habitat for Humanity is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat for Humanity International was founded in Americus, Georgia, USA, in 1976. Today it operates around the globe and has helped build, renovate and repair more than 600,000 decent, affordable houses sheltering more than three million people worldwide. Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.
Benton Habitat for Humanity offers families stability through a no-interest loan throughout the life of their mortgage. In order to qualify as a partner family, families must demonstrate a housing need, be a resident of Benton County for a least one year, have the ability to pay monthly mortgage payments, and commit to working a minimum of 500 hours on their home.
To help fund their mission work, Benton Habitat for Humanity operates a retail location called the “ReStore.” The store accepts donations of reusable building materials, fixtures, appliances, and other household goods. Not only a low cost source for home maintenance, repair and remodeling products, the ReStore partners with other local charities to provide job training skills through workforce development initiatives. The ReStore and Habitat offices are located at 4840 SW Philomath Boulevard, in Philomath, Oregon.
Benton Habitat for Humanity established this fund with BCF to address the future stability of the organization. “We want to encourage our donors to think not just about giving money for the current home we build, but thinking about long-term sustainability of our income stream,” said Bettina Schempf, the Executive Director of Benton Habitat for Humanity. “We wanted to offer one more vehicle for people to look at the long-lasting contribution they can make.”