2022-2023 Annual Report 

The past year has been one of growth and continued blessings for our affiliate. Navigating the post-pandemic world of construction costs and the increased need and obstacles in affordable housing has been a focus of our Board of Directors and staff.  Making homeownership a reality for our partner families continues to be our passion. Under the guidance of Habitat for Humanity International our affiliate works with local government, foundations, donors, our ReStore staff, and many volunteers to continue the tradition begun in Cleveland County over thirty years ago.  

April of 2023 marked fifteen years in business as a ReStore in Cleveland County. We plan to celebrate this momentous occasion on August 14, 2023, with a hot dog lunch and ribbon cutting at our ReStore located at 323 West Grover Street. Please plan to join us. What began as a mission to assist with funding houses in Cleveland County has grown and now has eight employees. Through the years the community has supported our efforts through donations of furniture and household items. We help our community by turning items that may be discarded into opportunities to raise funds for construction of homes for families. Wal-Mart Distribution has been a wonderful partner providing items for the ReStore.  The Lowe’s Planogram is also a wonderful addition to our store and provides our customers with great deals.  

This year we completed two houses with our partner families. These well-built homes have three bedrooms and two baths. We have begun construction at the corner of Young Street and West Oak Street in Shelby.  We are calling this area “Young Oak Square.”  The first house was the site of our Annual Women Build.  The second house is the site of our Church Partnership Build.  Partner families have been selected for both homes. 

We continue to be blessed by our community of Habitat supporters. Our volunteers worked a total of 3,085 hours. 124 construction volunteers worked on the houses for 1,777 hours while 54 volunteers worked in our ReStore for 1,308 hours. Many in our community have made donations to the ReStore and have made purchases.  

Accomplishments of 2022-2023 

* In 2023, Annette Cherry joined our volunteer Board of Directors.  

* Our tithe of almost $6,000 will be used by Habitat International to build homes all over the world. 

* Our 33rd and 34th homes were completed during this year.  Our Churchill Drive home was built in honor of longtime volunteer Bill Robinson. Bill served our construction crew for fifteen years.  His children planted a tree in the backyard of the home in honor of their father.  

* We broke ground on three new houses in May (35th, 36th, and 37th).   

* Our ReStore sales are supported through donations from our community, Lowes Planogram, our local Lowes, and Wal-Mart Distribution Center.  

* Mortgages continue to be serviced by Affiliate Mortgage.  

* Our affiliate sponsored the first annual Pastor Appreciation Lunch in October. We appreciate the partnership with the Greater Cleveland County Baptist Association. 

* To spread the good news about Habitat for Humanity in Cleveland County, the Executive Director presented at more than seven speaking engagements.  She is excited to share and would love to present your church, club, or organization. 

* In 2022 and the beginning of 2023, we had nine new Carpenters’ Club members and had ten renewing members.  

* HFHCC received grants from the Bank OZK, Cannon Foundation, Dover Foundation, Foundations of the Carolinas, Hospice Cleveland County Foundation, Porter Foundation, United Way of Cleveland County, Wells Fargo, and NC Finance. 

* Due to the grant from Cannon Foundation, we are now the proud owners of a 26-foot box truck.  This larger box truck with a lift allows us to pick up more from our community donations.  Soon the truck will have a beautiful “wrap” and will be a traveling advertisement for us!  Keep an eye out for us in the community. 

* The following restaurants fed our volunteers during the year:  Dairy Queen, Fatz, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken (Grover St), Hardees, Jammin J’s, Arby’s, Popeye’s, Alston’s and Showmar’s.  We are thankful for their partnership. 

* The Family Services committee selected two new families into Habitat’s Homeownership program for 2022-2023.  Those two houses are now under construction and projected to be completed in early 2024. 

* The Family Services committee will accept applications for partner families at the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024 

* The Cleveland County Realtor’s Association volunteered at the house on Fallston Road in July 2022 and are returning this July making this annual event. 

* Aramark volunteers in the ReStore and at the work site the fourth Wednesday of each month.  

* We were excited by the Women Build this year. We held two successful Saturday Builds on June 10th and 17th.  We had over 45 participants.  Thank you to Sandy’s Country Christmas and Alison’s Golf Cars for their donation that provided breakfast and lunch for the volunteers. 

* Five churches in our community have united to build the second house at Young Oak Square. They will be supporting the build through volunteer building and financial contributions. We are thankful for this exciting partnership with Eastside Baptist Church, New Creation Christian Center, Ryburn Memorial Presbyterian Church, St. Mary’s Help of Christians Catholic Church, and Shelby Presbyterian Church.  

* Two Saturdays in July we will be having Church Partnership Build Days. As the building progresses churches will have build days for their own church, as well as build days as a team of churches.  

* We have hosted Homeowner Events for our partner families.  We had a Holiday Homeowner Gathering and “Souper” Savings event.  We also had Tisha Dedmon from Reclaimed Sunshine teach us how to makeover thrift store finds for our homes.  Steve Toney from Cleveland County EMS presented Home Safety and Romelle Blanton shared how to prevent and prepare for a house fire.  We have monthly events planned through the end of the year.   

25 families served 

178 volunteers 

3085 total volunteer hours  

Ground Breaking at Vermont Village

A 29-year-old single mother looks forward to the day in the not-too-distant future when she and her daughter will have a home of their own in Shelby.

Erika Clemmons and her daughter, Kamana, currently live in an apartment with Erika’s mother. But with help from Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland County, Clemmons will soon own her own house.

“This will be a new adventure for us,” Clemmons said. ”(Kamana) is very excited about her own room and having a playroom and having outdoor play. Where we live, in an apartment, we don’t have a lot of space to play and ride bikes.”

The new home is one of five that will be built in Habitat for Humanity’s Vermont Village, a new venture in Shelby on Vermont Street.

Clemmons keeps busy as a single mother, a full-time student in Cleveland Community College’s nursing program, and through work at two part-time jobs.

Like all Habitat for Humanity homeowners, Clemmons will put in 200 hours of sweat equity toward her home and other Habitat homes. She is also taking financial classes and plans to volunteer in the Habitat ReStore.

“I just want to show my daughter, as a single mother, you can do it,” Clemmons said. “Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. I want to show that for all the single mothers out there.”

Most of the land was purchased by Habitat for Humanity Cleveland County last year. The city of Shelby installed water and sewer lines to the property earlier this year and will donate a parcel of land for the fifth home.

Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland County Executive Director Burney Drake said the new project will meet a need in the community for affordable housing.

“It’s exciting for our board and it’s exciting for our community,” Drake said. “We just try to make a difference in the families’ lives. This is life changing.”

Habitat is in the process of selecting its second homeowner at the Vermont Village. Officials with the organization hope to complete the first two homes in 2019.

The plan is to build and complete two more homes in 2020 and finish with the final home in 2021.

Habitat was initially only going to build two homes with septic tanks on the property, but Habitat contractor Will Rucker suggested doing more.

“We were going to build two houses and then Will said, ‘Why don’t we think big?’” Drake said.

The idea sparked a partnership with the city of Shelby for the water and sewer necessary to build several homes.

Other partners on the project include Cleveland County Community Foundation, Dover Foundation, SECU Foundation, Celanese Foundation and the Paul and Margaret Porter Foundation.

Habitat for Humanity relies on volunteers to help build their homes, which allows them to sell to homeowners at affordable rates.

For Clemmons, the help from Habitat for Humanity has been a life-changing experience.

“I’m very nervous, but I’m very excited,” she said. “There’s a lot of new challenges I’ll be faced with, but I’m ready for them. I feel like God has moved me in this direction for a reason.”