Lowe’s grants $112K to Beaches Habitat for Humanity to meet critical household needs
A local nonprofit at Jacksonville’s Beaches can now take the next step in serving its community.
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Beaches Habitat for Humanity was recently given two grants, totaling $112,000, from Lowe’s Home Improvement to lend a helping hand to neighbors in the area.
The funding will help complete 30 projects in the Jacksonville Beaches communities.
Royal Palms in Atlantic Beach is one area of focus.
Steve Gilbert is the CEO of Beaches Habitat for Humanity.
“There’s some great need in that area,” Gilbert said. “Some families need their outside homes painted, and we’re doing some landscaping for them. We’re also doing some interior work as well: safety for the family. It’s really a holistic approach that we’re taking with these families that we’re serving.”
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The grants will launch more home preservation and repair projects. The organization will be painting the town in August and September.
The funding will also help Beaches Habitat for Humanity launch a new initiative as part of the existing Aging in Place program called Housing Plus. Through the Aging in Place program, Habitat helps older adults age at home and in the community of their choice.
“We’re identifying families, folks that are 60 and over, that may need improvements inside their homes: some safety factors, bars in their bathrooms or maybe there’s something that they would trip over in their hallway,” Gilbert said.
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The money will assist families in addressing critical health and safety issues in their homes.
Action News Jax spoke with John Yester, who has been volunteering with Beaches Habitat for Humanity for five weeks now.
“I’ve been in Jacksonville since January. I finally got my lifestyle stable and then found out about Beaches Habitat for Humanity working out here. So I signed up on the website to volunteer.”
Yester said he believes in looking out for your neighbor.
“This is the everyday core of life,” Yester said. “If you can give that to somebody, then you’ve helped them long term and that’s what matters.”
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The funding is part of Lowe’s partnership renewal with Habitat for Humanity, which includes a donation of $2.5 million to support home repair and rehab projects at 100 local Habitat organizations across the U.S.
“We’re really excited to continue the work that we’re doing, and we’ve been doing here for 30 years in the Beaches area,” Gilbert said. “We’ve built over 360 new homes, and this project from Lowe’s will help us to refurbish a lot of the homes that our families are in.”
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