Habitat Tucson FY2019-2020 Annual Report

there’s no place like

home

annual report FY2019-2020

Unprecedented, Once-In-ALifetime, International Crisis. For many, these are words that have defined the last year.

As we reflect back on the 20192020 fiscal year, Habitat Tucson’s 40th anniversary, I am reminded of the decades of support we have received from this amazing community.

I think of the Tucson and Stonewall Foundations and United Way who provided essential funding to keep families in their homes. I think of key construction staff continuing to build.

And I find joy with the families who moved into their new homes, finding safety in a place to call their own.

Thanks to supporters like you, we’ve been able to ensure the continued building of safe, affordable homes in Southern Arizona.

letter from our CEO

When we raised the first walls at Carters Court to celebrate World Habitat Day 2019, we had no idea a global pandemic was around the corner. With the spread of the pandemic, families are facing both a public health and an economic crisis.

The longer it takes Arizona to recover, the more this pandemic also becomes a housing emergency.

building hope during

covid-19 Your support allowed construction to begin on the 10th Habitat Tucson neighborhood, Carters Court, to complete over 26 critical repairs and A Brush With Kindness projects, and to build 9 new homes at Minton Court.

Over our 40 year history we have never faced a community-wide threat with such dire consequences for housing.

With a strong foundation and guiding mission, we are confident we can rise to whatever challenges the next 40 years present. Your partnership continues to build hope.

I hope when you look back on this year, you remember that you built homes with Habitat for Humanity Tucson. You helped families achieve safe housing amidst the unprecedented, Once-In-A-Lifetime, International Crisis that is this pandemic.

In partnership,

The impact of a safe, decent home has never been more clear!

T. VanHook, CEO Habitat for Humanity Tucson

Guadalupe & Adan & Family

the impact of housing ‘Home’ doesn’t mean today what it meant a year ago.

Our ‘homes’ have transformed into our workplaces, schools, libraries, day-care centers, gyms, and parks. Sheltering in place means the front line of the COVID-19 crisis is at our own front doors, those very walls we shelter within.

While the national spotlight shines on the inequity of housing...

You helped us keep building.

This year, our small but mighty crew of masked volunteers, staff, and homebuyers finished construction in Minton Court and continued pounding nails in new homes at Carters Court.

Janvier & Yvonne & Family

We celebrated home dedications virtually and moved 11 new families into their homes in Minton Court, Copper Vista, Marana, Corazon Del Pueblo and Desert Vista.

It continues to be critical to offer families a hand-up by building safe, decent housing.

Lydia Leon & Family

community impact

FY2019-2020

$2.1 million

in donations from individual donors, community groups, foundations, and corporations

$1.7 million $1.1 million

the estimated national value of our volunteer workforce

PHILANTHROPIC GIFTS

in in-kind gifts that include construction materials and items donated to the HabiStore

Tucson HabiStore In 2020, we reopened the HabiStore with increased precautions and launched a new online virtual store.

Even with reduced hours and limited customer capacity, the HabiStore was able to raise over $565,000 this year!

11 26

families, including 22 children, moved into new, safe, energyefficient, and stable homes. home repair projects, including 7 A Brush With Kindness projects, improved the quality of life for seniors, veterans, families, and individuals.

1,800

volunteers helped build and repair homes in and around the greater Tucson community.

40,000

hours were donated to support Habitat Tucson’s mission to build a more compassionate and just world.

4,958 2,102 950 20 155

sweat equity hours were completed by homebuyers. individual donors supported home building and repair efforts in our community. tons saved from the landfill annually thanks to HabiStore donations. families in Mexico and Bangladesh now have access to adequate shelter, potable water, and sanitation. individuals in Tucson benefited from the kindness of Habitat Tucson supporters, volunteers—and you.

“Living in an accessible house has made all the difference.”

Educators Mary Catherine and her husband David, along with their children Clarissa and Colton, have lived in their Habitat house for over 16 years.

There’s a shelf in the laundry room that catalogues her children’s heights. David’s pottery is displayed in the living room. And there’s ornamental snowflakes in the window—each representing a Christmas spent in their Habitat house.

“When community works together, I am blown away.” —Mary Catherine Habitat Tucson designed a completely accessible house for Mary Catherine, who is a double amputee.

“I think living in an accessible house has made all the difference,” says her husband David, an English teacher at Pima Community College.

16 years

in an accessible Habitat home

Homeowners Mary Catherine and David, their children, and dog Snoopy.

That independence means everything to Mary Catherine. She feels totally secure and safe in her Habitat home.

“It’s turned into a sanctuary for me. And that sanctuary is permeating out of the walls and into the yard, the garden, the light in my room,” she says.

“I have learned what community can do,” Mary Catherine says. “When community works together, I am blown away. Whether it’s just two people or all of Habitat, it’s really nice when people willingly help each other in a little community.”

Judy Dare: 20+ Years of Giving Judy Dare has been volunteering with Habitat Tucson for the past 20 years, and has worked behind the scenes in every imaginable way. Working retail at the HabiStore. Hammering away on the build site. Supporting staff at the office.

Serving on the Habitat Board.

Back then, Judy remembers meeting their five-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son, and now, she’s excited to see them graduate college. It’s a spectacular feeling, watching the longreaching impact of her work ‘behind the scenes.’

But partnering with families—walking them through sweat equity, financial classwork, and mortgage payments— was hands-down her favorite part.

This year, Judy wanted to take advantage of another way to support Habitat, through her IRA.

To this day, Judy is still good friends with a family she partnered with almost 20 years ago.

The way Judy sees it, giving is an extension of her volunteerism.

“I trust Habitat so much,” Judy says.

“And the value of a volunteer is giving of your time and money – I’m going to say both. Helping an organization that you believe in – that’s the value of a volunteer.”

View our 40 year timeline & see your long term impact — habitattucson.org/ar20

the warmth of home Elizabeth and her husband purchased their fixer-upper in Vail together. But soon after moving in, her husband and mother-in-law became ill. Elizabeth set aside dreams of home renovations to take care of them both.

Pictured: Elizabeth Skidmore receives critical home repairs and “A Brush With Kindness.”

While she was able to make small improvements to their dream home, expensive medical bills meant she couldn’t afford to make all the necessary repairs. After 20 long years of sickness, Elizabeth finally said goodbye to her husband when he passed away.

By then, she was disabled herself and on a limited income. It felt as though the house was falling down around her.

“I thought I would have to go to assisted living and lose my dogs, but because of Habitat I was able to stay in my house,” said Elizabeth. “I appreciate that more than you could ever know.”

But one of the biggest impacts Habitat for Humanity Tucson had on Elizabeth? It was heat.

Elizabeth had not had heating in her home for the last 11 years.

During the winter, she recalls her house getting as low at 32 degrees – literally freezing. Elizabeth would have to bundle up in her husbands’ old sweaters and cuddle with her dogs in bed until late afternoon when the sun finally warmed the house.

Now, she feels safe and warm in her home.

“To have someone come out and care this much and do this kind of work and show this kind of respect and compassion is amazing. To be able to stay in my home and have it not fall down around me is incredible, I mean—I can sleep at night,” she said, tearing up.

Elizabeth had not had heat in her home for the last 11 years

Homeowners Barry and Fatimatu feel blessed by the safety of their Habitat home.

there’s no place like home during COVID-19 Board member and Habitat homeowner Barry works as a nurse in a nursing home, caring for elderly patients who are particularly susceptible to COVID. As a frontline worker, he understands better than most how crucial a safe home is during these uncertain times.

His Habitat home is truly a blessing. In his old apartment, all four children shared one room. But now, each of his children has a quiet space to study and attend virtual school. His oldest daughter graduated this May, and wants to enter the nursing field. “She wants to be like me,” Barry says, smiling.

“It’s a blessing to be with Habitat at this time, for me and my family.”

And with his Habitat home, not only are his children able to study and pursue their dreams, but Barry is also better able to keep them safe when he returns from work.

“I don’t think I would have been able to work safely if I still lived in my 2 bedroom, 1 bath home at this time,” Barry says.

“Because of the social distancing and proximity, it would have been difficult for me. It’s unimaginable.”

“When I get home, I get out of my car and I go through the garage. I take off my scrubs, put it in the laundry, go take a shower, dress up, before I start talking to the kids, giving them a hug,” he says. “That would have been impossible in the apartment.”

Tucson Foundations KEEPS AFFORDABLE HOUSING ALIVE As the pandemic hit, the Tucson Foundations continued to recognize the critical need for affordable housing in our community.

The Tucson Foundations have a long history of partnership with Habitat Tucson—for over 20 years they have helped keep the mission of building safe, affordable housing alive and well in Tucson.

Carters Court neighborhood under construction in Flowing Wells, Tucson.

The Tucson Foundations made a generous $68,500 donation to purchase the land on which Habitat built Minton Court in the Amphi neighborhood. In June and July of 2020, 9 Habitat families were able to move into these safe, affordable homes—thanks to that partnership.

In 2019, the Tucson Foundations continued to support building efforts by purchasing a $500,000 19-lot development in Flowing Wells—Carters Court neighborhood. Thanks to their land purchases in Amphi and Flowing Wells, the Tucson Foundations ensured 28 families are able to purchase affordable homes.

On March 27, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tucson Foundations gave $50,000 to cover the mortgage payments for homeowners who lost their job or experienced reduced working hours due to the pandemic. Over 30 Habitat families were supported at their time of greatest need.

“Without the generosity of Tucson Foundations, we wouldn’t have this land to be able to build affordable hoMes.” T. VanHook

`—

Tucson Foundations has been a significant and dedicated partner in the fight for affordable housing.

In a year marked by so much uncertainty, partnerships like the Tucson Foundations have ensured we can make the world a more just and compassionate place.

Habitat Tucson donated masks In March of 2020, there was a national supply-chain crisis of N95 respirator masks. Every mask was needed for medical workers. It was our pleasure to help in any way we could.

Habitat for Humanity Tucson donated our supply of N95 respirator masks to Tucson area hospitals as medical personnel began to battle the Coronavirus in Arizona.

Once we were able to support essential health care workers on the frontlines of this pandemic, we turned our attention to our most central mission of building safe, decent homes, adopting CDC guidelines to keep our staff, volunteers, and homebuyers safe. Adapting to the additional safety procedures for COVID-19 was accepted quickly and has become part of the culture of the Habitat buildsite and embedded into the mission.

“The only downside to the mask is you cannot see me smiling when I see people wearing them and respecting each other’s safety during such a difficult time,” says Habitat Tucson CPO Joshua Swinney.

Even without being able to see each other’s facial expressions or be able to celebrate with high-fives or handshakes, our devoted volunteers and staff still push the mission forward.

“Together we can accomplish anything no matter the obstacle,” emphasizes Joshua Swinney. “I am so proud of how much they have given up in order to help their fellow neighbors. The need for safe, affordable housing has not let up and neither have our dedicated crews.”

Joshua Swinney. Habitat Tucson CPO, on his way to deliver N95 respirator masks to medical workers.

corporate & foundations sponsors

ADP Aldea Spiritual Community Amadeus Revenue Integrity Inc. Arizona Community Foundation Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation Bank of America Bank of the West BBVA Compass Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Cardinals Charities Casas Adobes Congregational Church, Mission Committee Citi City of Tucson Community Church at SaddleBrooke Community Foundation for Southern Arizona Connie Hillman Family Foundation Cox Communications Dorothy Harmsen and Bill Harmsen, Sr. Charitable Foundation DuPont Eddy Foundation Elizabeth Read Taylor Foundation GEICO George Mason Green and Lois C. Green Foundation GMT Stoneworks, LLC Google Advertising Habitat for Humanity International Hamstra Heating & Cooling Inc. HDS Trucking Institute Humana Inc. Jade Tree Foundation John and Helen Murphey Foundation Leidos Inc. Lichtenheld Family Foundation Charitable Trust Margaret Mellon Hitchcock Foundation

Mesa Fully Formed Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church Pacific Premier Bank PEO Chapter EY, Saddlebrooke Roche Diagnostics ScriptSave St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church The Gordon Foundation The Home Depot USA The JASAM Foundation of Arizona The Stonewall Foundation Town of Marana Tucson Charity Bridge Club, Inc. Tucson Electric Power Tucson Foundations Tucson Medical Center Tucson REALTORS Charitable Foundation U.S. Bank Foundation United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona Valspar Corporation Washington Federal Wells Fargo Whirlpool Corporation

Thanks to your tireless efforts and generous contributions, you’ve invested in the futures of hundreds of families across Southern Arizona.

Board of Directors 2019-2020

Board President Pete Morgan President-Elect Lisa Cooke Past-President The Rev. Canon John Kitagawa Vice President Pat Hirschman, Lonny Sternberg Treasurer Jerry Miron Secretary Bill Hard Board Members: Carmen Cueva Terry Galligan Sam Jordan Alyson Trinidad John Howell Souleymane Barry Cole Salgado Rosa Reyna Theresa Medina Ron Leuzinger T. VanHook, ex officio