Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity Receives $15,000 Grant to Support Affordable Housing and Veterans Build Program from US Bank
JOPLIN, Mo. — Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit dedicated to
improving housing affordability through community collaboration, has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the U.S. Bank Foundation.
“U.S. bank has been a long time partner of ours,” Executive Director Scott Clayton said. “We’ve had some great representation and not only this grant for $15,000, but in past grant amounts and plus volunteer work days, they’ve been volunteering with us for a long time. We’ve had some great U.S. bank board members as well. So, we kind of go way back and we’re glad to continue that relationship.”
The funds will bolster the organization’s house construction program, enabling low-income families and veterans to build and purchase homes at no profit and with a 0% interest rate.
“This will go towards the construction of the homes we’re building this year,” Clayton added about the grant. “So we’re going to be at 11 (houses), which is a pretty good year for us. Right now, we have nine going and US Bank is working on two of those homes today doing siding.”
The grant will directly support Habitat’s mission to provide safe, affordable housing for qualifying families, including those in its Veterans Build program. In partnership with U.S. Bank, Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity is currently installing siding for two homes: one for Navy veteran Janene Houskeeper at 806 N. Tom in Webb City, and another for future homeowner Jennifer Demmings at 1404 W. 4th Street in Joplin.
“I think it’s good in several ways,” Clayton said when asked about days like Tuesday. “It’s good for a homeowner to see the volunteers in the community that want to participate in the construction of their home. It’s good for volunteers because they can get out of the office and do something a little bit different, see each other in a different way. So it’s a good way for them to build their camaraderie and to have an occasion outside of the office walls. And it’s good for us because we get the house closer to done. So it’s good in several ways.”
