Wells Fargo Foundation has awarded Habitat for Humanity of NW Indiana with a $15,000 grant to build an affordable home in Lake Station. The funding is part of an $8.1 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International for capacity building and direct mission support to build, renovate and repair more than 350 affordable homes across the United States. The grant is provided through Wells Fargo Builds℠ and part of the Wells Fargo Foundation’s $1 billion philanthropic commitment to create more housing affordability solutions by 2025.
“We’ve had a rich history of working with Habitat for Humanity to strengthen our neighborhoods through philanthropy and volunteerism,” said Marybeth Howe, Wells Fargo Regional Commercial Banking President for Indiana. “Safe and stable housing enables people to build upon the rest of their life and, together, we can shift the narrative to help others understand that housing affordability is both an economic and humanitarian crisis that’s taking a toll on millions of people.”
Wells Fargo Builds provides philanthropic financial assistance from the Wells Fargo Foundation to support the construction, renovation, painting or repairing of homes with low-to-moderate income households. In 2019 alone, Wells Fargo employees volunteered more than 1.9 million hours of service to strengthen their communities, including building, repairing, and improving 674 homes across the U.S. with several organizations through Wells Fargo Builds.
“It is absolutely thrilling to be building our first home in Lake Station.”, stated Dawn Michaels, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana. “Decent, affordable housing is critical to the welfare of each and every family. We are so grateful to partner with Wells Fargo, stabilizing another family in Northwest Indiana.”
Upon hearing about the grant Habitat for Humanity of NW Indiana received from Wells Fargo Mayor Bill Carroll was ecstatic. His words reflect the greater excitement for an improved Lake Station community, "These types of changes for the people and for this community that Habitat for Humanity and Wells Fargo are willing to provide to the city of Lake Station, is great to see." Mayor Carroll continued, “We are extremely grateful that Wells Fargo is providing this grant to help Habitat for humanity, and we hope to see continued participation from our businesses to help improve communities in northwest Indiana.”
The grant will support the construction of a new home in Lake Station for Habitat partner family, the Campbell’s. Habitat joined with the Campbell’s, Lake Station Mayor Bill Carroll and Tim Brown, Executive Director of LCEDD for a groundbreaking ceremony in July.
About Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana
Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana is the leading organization that provides permanent, affordable housing to income-qualified families in Lake County Indiana. By serving qualified homeowners with an affordable mortgage, we help families achieve housing stability and improve their living conditions. HFHNWI’s operating expenses are funded in part by our two ReStores’ located in Gary and Merrillville through the sales of gently used and new home furnishings and materials. This enables the financial contributions of our donors to go directly toward serving families. HFHNWI leverages our resources with community partners, collaborators and volunteers to keep our housing affordable. HFHNWI was formed in July of 1986 by Reverend Dick Rogers and has served over 110 families. We continue work toward our vision; where everyone has a decent place to live.