Ending substandard housing in Albany - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Ending substandard housing in Albany

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By Karen Cohilas - bio | email

ALBANY, GA (WALB) – More than a hundred volunteers are expected to converge on a South Albany neighborhood Saturday morning to help build a better home for a family in need.   It's part of a monthly mission project by Mission Change.  This month, They're partnering with Flint River Habitat for Humanity to change lives.

Mission Change is an Albany non-profit that has concentrated on ministering to and serving the homeless population in Dougherty County.  They like to focus on missions right in their backyard.  And this month's mission is to end substandard housing.

Habitat for Humanity relies heavily on volunteers to build quality affordable housing, but with only a couple working each day alongside employees, building those houses can take a long time.

That's why news that around 100 volunteers are converging on this home site Saturday is welcome to Director Stacy Odom Driggers.  She said, "Knowing that we have this reliable volunteer source that's coming, we know that we are going to get some work done and we look forward to it."

Three houses will be tackled Saturday.  One home was recently gutted and is being rehabbed.  Driggers said, "It will be brought back up to code and to standards and a new home will be back in here shortly."

David Blackwell is the project coordinator for Mission Change.  He says getting volunteers to sign up for work like this is easy.  "The needs are great," he said.  "We continue to hear about the issues of poverty and homelessness in our community and what we do with Habitat has a direct impact on the situation of poverty in our community."

Pulling people out of the slums and setting their sights higher.  "It's incredible," he said.  "There's where your success is, when you get somebody that's living in substandard housing, to actually move from a house to a home that moves them into permanent housing is awesome."

Putting all the tools available into the hands of those who need them.  If you want to join in on the monthly mission, all you have to do is show up at the project site.It's on Forsythe Street, out near the Albany Airport.  Work starts at 9 AM.    

If you can't make it Saturday, Habitat is always looking for volunteers, and Mission Change is constantly involved in projects.   

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