Habitat for Humanity Marks World Habitat Day 2010 with Week of Activities

[5 October 2010] -- Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) kicked off World Habitat Day activities 4 October with building and awareness-raising events around the world as well as a gala dinner in Washington, DC.

 

For 2010, Habitat for Humanity expanded its World Habitat Day activities into a week of events as part of its emphasis on awareness-raising. More than 300 Habitat for Humanity activities were held around the world to mark the day, as people joined together to advocate for the need and importance of housing and to exchange ideas.

 

The highlight of Habitat for Humanity’s World Habitat Day activities in Washington was the launch of the 27th annual Carter Work Project on 4 October. Each year since 1984, Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, give a week of their time to help Habitat for Humanity build, renovate or repair homes and raise awareness about the need for affordable and decent housing.

 

This year, President and Mrs. Carter were joined by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Habitat for Humanity International chief executive officer Jonathan Reckford and volunteers to renovate and build 12 homes in the Ivy City neighbourhood of Washington, DC.

 

Throughout the week, the Carters will join 1,000 volunteers to build, rehabilitate and repair a total of 86 homes in Washington, DC; Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; and Birmingham, Alabama.

 

“Shelter plays a critical role in the health of individual families and the well-being of communities, providing an opportunity for more public, private and nonprofit partnerships to address this global issue,” said Reckford in a World Habitat Day press release.

 

The organisation also hosted a gala dinner to honour President and Mrs. Carter for their 27 years of dedicated service to Habitat and their lifetime commitment to strengthening democracy and alleviating poverty.

 

Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Frank Blake of The Home Depot, Andrew N. Liveris of Dow, and Larry Stone of Lowe’s Corporation co-chaired the gala, which was held at the Andrew W. Mellon auditorium in Washington. Secretary Donovan served as the guest speaker.  

 

U.S. Representatives Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Brad Miller (D-North Carolina), Timothy F. Murphy (R-Pennsylvania), and Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) all attended the gala, in addition to Ambassadors Meera Shankar (India), Han Duk-soo (South Korea), and Said Jawad (Afghanistan).  Cities Alliance Programme Manager William Cobbett also attended the event.

Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity International is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to eliminate substandard housing and homelessness from the world and through education, make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. A federated organisation that has operated in over 100 countries, Habitat helped 61,005 low-income families around the world by building 23,657 homes in 2009 alone. Habitat joined the Cities Alliance earlier this year.