This year Habitat Wake turns 40. In 1985, while serving as a seminary intern at Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh, the pastor gave me the freedom to help form a local Habitat organization as the focus of my internship.
God was already at work. Various groups were gathering to pursue a housing ministry, including a group in Wake Forest and Franklin County that was pursuing the Habitat model.
The groups were brought together for an organizational meeting in the spring of 1985 at Millbrook. John Wilson became our first board chair. We were affiliated with Habitat in October and were incorporated in NC on November 19, 1985, which is our 40th birthday.
Our initial name was Heart of Carolina Habitat for Humanity. We sought to cover the central area of the state, where our organizers were from. After the internship, I was hired as the part-time executive director and became full-time after graduating seminary.
We began work on our first home in June 1986 with the Lennon family . Our next home was with Dorothy and Leon Smith, pictured here with Congressman David Price. Dorothy’s joy and the media attention from this house put us on the map. The 3rd year we built 6 homes. The 4th year, 12 homes. The 5th year, 14 homes. Dorothy telling her transformational story during these years was key to our growth.
With an intern at first and only 3 staff by 1990, volunteer led committees did everything. Dewey Alley served as our third board chair, brought us other business leaders like Tommy Fonville, and helped to form our first ReStore. With Dorothy, Dewey, and many others, we became the top-tier Habitat organization we are now.
I left to work for Habitat International in 1990 to start Habitat affiliates in Tennessee and Kentucky and then to form and lead the global Faith Relations department. After I left, Habitat Wake continued to flourish.
The first ReStore was formed in 1994. By 1996, we built our 100th home. By 2016, we built our 500th home. In 2018, we merged with Johnston County Habitat. By 2023, we repaired 500 homes.
I have been asked; did you see Habitat becoming this successful. Well, I did. I had a strong sense that this movement with great theology and empowerment principles from Clarence Jordan, combined with the amazing energy of Millard Fuller, could change the world. And I saw no reason why it would not flourish in this area. When President Carter joined us, everything became possible.
Returning to Habitat Wake in 2012, I was not surprised to see us continuing to be a model in building so many homes. I am surprised and very thrilled to see us becoming a leader in advocacy. Our founders dreamed that local Habitat organizations would not only build houses but address the root causes of our housing problem and work at the societal level to solve it. As Habitat Wake enters our fourth decade, we are poised now to fully live into this bold piece of our mission.
40 years is a biblical number representing preparation and new beginnings. It seems fitting that after 40 years we are now prepared to be a model Habitat organization for advocacy as well as construction.
After 40 years of countless people building this trusted and much-loved organization, we stand at a point in our history with the capacity to fully become what we were meant to be. This motivates me now – as much as I was motivated 40 years ago.