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helped, their mortgages were cheaper than the leased unit they were leaving.

“Purchasing a home sooner versus later will help families position to build equity with the payments they make versus throwing money away month after month,” she says. “Our Get That Deed families that purchased in 2014 and 2015 have homes that are now worth a minimum of $50,000 more than what they paid for it. That is very impactful.”

Get That Deed’s process is simple through the acronym DEED: Decide they want it for their family. Evaluate their current finances and get a plan of action to get it from where it is to where it needs to be. Educate themselves from A to Z on the homebuying process. Do it, just do it, according to Nixon.

“Families need to do it not just for themselves and not just because it will set their family on the road to financial wholeness but also because it is a fact that when Daddy and Mama own, so do the kids,” she says. “Studies have shown that kids that grow up in homes that were owned by their parents are more likely to seek homeownership for themselves when of age.”

Dixon’s goals for Get That Deed include expanding the program’s reach statewide and nationwide to assist more families through “forming relationships and partnerships with employers, community leaders, and organizations to get the information to the families they are connected to so they can gain homeownership with less stress and fewer mistakes,” she says.

Another goal for the program is to find real estate investors who will see the value and rewards in making a dollar and a difference at the same time.

“Lastly, our goal is to also partner with other Realtors locally and across the U.S. that have a heart of service and want to see every family in their community achieve homeownership. Truth is, there are so many families that just don’t know how to get started and how to get to the finish line,” Dixon says.

“We have a proven blueprint for Realtors to follow that will enable them to help many of these families in the most effective way within their perspective areas.” W

Brenda Dixon’s profile ran in a recent WILMA Leadership email. To sign up for daily WILMA emails, go to wilmamag.com/ email-newsletter.

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WILMINGTON’S FIRST

Invisalign Diamond Provider

DIGNITY MEMORIAL

PLANNING AHEAD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

Keeping up with personal and professional obligations can be a daunting task sometimes. Between remembering to pay bills, maintaining social connections and meeting deadlines at work, there are often a lot of items on that old ‘to-do’ list that fall by the wayside.

The pandemic has strengthened the notion that planning ahead and being proactive is critical. In a time when going shopping in person can seem like a risky proposition, planning ahead can feel like an effective way to stay safe. But shopping online takes planning; having groceries or a medication delivered does too. Some of our favorite businesses are busier than ever, and the immediate gratification of walking in a store and buying something may not feel like it is worth the risk.

If nothing else, the pandemic has also taught us that things can change in the blink of an eye, that our grip on life is tenuous at best. Sitting down to pre-plan funeral arrangements, outline a service or pick a burial plot might seem overwhelming or morbid, but the bottom line is, death comes for us all.

Planning for funeral arrangements may be one of the most important tasks on anyone’s to-do list, and with many of us having more time on our hands than ever as a result of the pandemic, now could be the best time to finally cross it off the list. Doing so is an effective means of ensuring your final wishes will be met and your family won’t have to deal with the stress of making important financial decisions during their time of grief.

The staff here at Coble Funeral and Cremation Services at Greenlawn Memorial Park can help you decide which service is right for you. There are no hard and fast rules pertaining to arranging a funeral, and with advanced planning, everything can be totally up to you. Basically, our focus here is on being as flexible as possible, so that we can adapt our services to the requirements and preferences of our clients.

Generally, the word “funeral” simply refers to a gathering of friends and family, who come together to mourn and pay tribute to someone they have lost. Some may opt for a memorial without a casket. Some may want a visitation or a wake the night before. A funeral can be formal and follow traditions or it can be an informal celebration that focuses uniquely on you and the memories that were made with family and friends…or a combination of both.

Whether you only want to have one service or several, the plans are basically up to you. One of the aspects of our services that I am particularly proud of is that we allow you to arrange your service in advance without paying for it now. This is something we developed in response to the idea that some may procrastinate with pre-planning because they think there is an added expense involved.

910.799.1686 | DIGNITYMEMORIAL.COM

Michael Higgins is Sales Manager for Dignity Memorial®, which cares for more than 300,000 families each year through its network of more than 2,000 providers throughout North America. Learn more at www. dignitymemorial.com, or call Greenlawn Memorial Park, Oleander Memorial Gardens and Coble Funeral and Cremation Services at Greenlawn Memorial Park, (910) 799-1686.

MARKRAFT CABINETS

A FRESH, CLEAN LOOK FOR YOUR LAUNDRY ROOM

Typically, when homeowners think of remodeling their home, the first thing that comes to mind is a kitchen or bath renovation. While these two areas are important to continuously update, other hardworking spaces in our homes often don’t get the attention they deserve. Our home’s laundry room can be overlooked as much of our focus is pushed toward the gathering areas of our home like the living room and kitchen. But the truth is, we spend quite a bit of time in our laundry rooms and as most of us would probably agree, the mundane task of managing laundry isn’t always the most exciting. A thoughtful facelift to this space, however, would make your clothes-cleaning experience much more inviting and efficient.

Smaller laundry rooms provide an excellent opportunity for the creative professionals at Markraft to find ways to maximize available space. Lacking a dedicated space in many laundry rooms leads to our kitchen tables and living room floors becoming the laundryfolding area. But adding some folding room to your laundry space is easy! If you have a front load washer and dryer, consider having a countertop installed over them. A long countertop above your appliances would provide that perfect, clean, and convenient space for sorting and folding.

Over time, we all accumulate more laundry products than just detergent and dryer sheets. Perhaps all your laundry items are taking up that valuable real estate on top of your washer or dryer. Installing custom cabinetry above those appliances provides all the storage space you need for detergent bottles, dryer sheets, ironing supplies, and many more of the household supplies that you’d prefer to have stored out of sight. Laundry room cabinetry can be customized to meet the design needs of your space. Colors, style, and hardware can all coordinate to fit your desired design plan. By adding some of these things into your design plan, your space will feel complete and truly reflect your own personal style.

If you’re working with a larger laundry room, it might suit you to add a cabinetry wall with a separate folding area. Laundry room cabinets can be fitted with rods for hanging clothes, storing ironing boards, and even laundry baskets, which are ideal for pre-sorting. Even if you’ve missed a laundry day or two, this added storage can conceal piles of clothes that are already perfectly sorted for when you do get around to the chore.

Ensuring that every room in your home functions to meet your needs – all while being aesthetically pleasing – is top of mind at Markraft. Their talented designers know how to make your space work for you and are excited to create a customized design plan for your laundry room or any room of your home!

President and General Manager Cee Edwards and his team of talented designers invites you to visit Markraft’s Design Studio, 2705 Castle Creek Lane, just off Castle Hayne Road. Markraft’s professional kitchen and bath designers consult by appointment.

910.793.0202 | MARKRAFT.COM

MCKEE HOMES

MCKEE HOMES OFFERS NEW FLOOR PLANS

The homebuilding industry and landscape of the real estate market saw major changes in 2020, and as we move further into 2021 it looks like they are here to stay.

Low Interest Rates

The recent recordbreaking decline in interest rates is helping first-time homebuyers and current renters make their decision to buy! For the first time in a long time, the housing market has experienced an entirely different buyer profile. McKee Homes is making every effort to reach more families, starting with the release of the brand-new line of open-concept floorplans, the Espree Series. This new series of single-family homes range from 1,512-2,186 square feet, feature 3-4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths with either one or two car garages, starting in the mid $200’s. The Rise in Suburbs

The highly soughtafter destination town of Wilmington is experiencing a trend of homeowners flocking towards the suburbs. As the normalcy of working from home continues to rise, homeowners are seeing less and less of a need to live in the big city areas. Those who aren’t quite ready to make that big move are realizing it might be the perfect time to buy their second home, and there’s no better place than this beautiful coastal town.

Importance of Flex Space

A home was just a home, until it became a classroom, an office, a gym, a restaurant and a daycare. Multi-functional floorplans support this new way of living, by allowing homeowners to transform their home to fit their needs. Our new multi-functional floorplans that come in all shapes and sizes give homeowners ample flex space, with additional rooms, spaces, and outdoor courtyards perfect for this new normal.

Outdoor Living Space

With outdoor living spaces becoming more and more an extension of our home, we realized the need for resortstyle courtyards. Our Epcon floorplans are thoughtfully laid out with these features, highlighting outdoor living areas, with spacious courtyards and covered patios.

High Demand

With such high demand in the homebuying market, the availability of homes is diminishing. McKee Homes is continuously expanding its footprint in the coastal region of Wilmington, to build homes that are more affordable and accessible to homebuyers across all budgets. As the demand for coastal dream homes increases, McKee Homes continues to expand into other Wilmington areas, such as Supply, Bolivia, and Leland.

Design Your Space

McKee Homes features a design studio in the Wilmington area, where our Design Consultants take new homebuyers through today’s trends in cabinets, flooring, lighting, fixtures, etc.

McKee Homes looks forward to building Life Changing Moments for all of our of wonderful coastal homebuyers.

910.475.7100 | MCKEEHOMESNC.COM

Patty Sloan Director of Sales and Marketing

PATRIOT ROOFING

PRESERVING THE PAST, BUILDING THE FUTURE

The owner of Patriot Roofing, Stephanie Bolton, believes in the message and work that the Historic Wilmington Foundation lends to our community. Stephanie and her husband, Bill, have made it a priority to give back to our community by donating their time and resources to the nonprofit over the years. Most recently, Stephanie has become a member of the Historical Wilmington Foundation Board and is looking forward to contributing to the greater effort of saving and protecting historic structures. Stephanie and Bill find it equally important to educate the community and their clients about the proper care and maintenance of historic buildings, as such care is vital to the preservation of those structures.

For more than half a century, the Historic Wilmington Foundation has been preserving the built history of New Hanover county and, over the years, extending its reach to Pender and Brunswick counties too. The member-supported nonprofit hosts events, workshops, and programs in an effort to maintain historic architecture in our area and educate the community about the importance of these irreplaceable structures.

By bringing awareness to the value historical buildings provide to our area, the Historic Wilmington Foundation has gained support from local businesses and community members alike. And while support in the form of dollars is always nice, the Historic Wilmington Foundation gladly accepts donations in the form of old buildings or their reclaimed parts. Often when land and lots are purchased, the buyer has other plans for the space. If a vintage structure is located on one of these plots, the Historic Wilmington Foundation will be happy to salvage what they can from the structure or even make arrangements to move the entire building to another location. This adaptive reuse is what keeps our community’s history rich and still allows for the natural flow of growth within our city.

Stephanie and Bill are continuously adapting and growing Patriot Roofing to meet the needs of our ever-changing community. In an effort to deepen their already extensive knowledge of historical preservation work, the two have enrolled in the Historic Preservation Construction program that Cape Fear Community College just started to offer this year. The new certification aims to provide students with the knowledge to maintain and preserve historic structures not only in our community, but across the nation too. Understanding that our historic structures require specialized maintenance and care to be preserved will ultimately help the effort of keeping these buildings standing tall for years to come.

If you own a historic building and have questions about proper care and maintenance of its roof or exterior, give the professionals at Patriot Roofing a call today. They welcome the opportunity to talk with you about the needs of your historic home and how they can help.

Stephanie Bolton is the owner of Patriot Roofing Company, a female-owned and locally operated roofing company serving the Cape Fear area. With over 20 years of experience serving homeowners, Patriot Roofing Company specializes in residential roofing, siding, gutters, and windows. Visit them online at, PatriotRoofer.com or call 910-218-0600.

910.218.0600 | PATRIOTROOFER.COM

BUILDING UP

HOUSING BUILT FOR WOMEN, BY WOMEN

by LORI WILSON photo by STEPHANIE SAVAS PHOTOGRAPHY

T

his May, teams of women will join forces to help two single moms achieve a great dream just in time for Mother’s Day: to own a home.

“Women are particularly empathic to the various barriers we experience in life,” says LAUREN MCKENZIE, currently the director of finance and operations for Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity. “This is about doing something for a member of our community.”

Each year, Cape Fear Habitat hosts the Women Build project to mobilize women throughout the region in partnership with a local female homebuyer, for whom the organization provides access to an affordable mortgage.

The Women Build initiative elevates the for-women-by-women concept. The Cape Fear Habitat female-friendly project empowers women to learn new skills and take on leadership roles on a traditionally male-dominated work site.

“Like any Habitat for Humanity site, you don’t have to have any previous skills,” says McKenzie (shown left). “You can just learn something new and help us do what we do, which is build homes, community, and hope.”

In 2018, with the help of coworkers, McKenzie relaunched the Women Build project for Cape Fear Habitat.

“I just got really excited about it,” she says, “and I knew it was something we could get a lot of excitement around.”

The organization usually looks to build one home with a group of ten teams raising $50,000 each year. The 2020 Women Build, however, was canceled in the wake of the pandemic. So, McKenzie and others have doubled the goal to make up for last year’s loss, with strict COVID-19 boundaries in place. Indoor activities are limited to ten masked builders and twenty for outdoor activities.

“I think that we are fortunate because a lot of folks who participated in our first year are still there,” McKenzie says. “I’ve been pleasantly overwhelmed with a lot of interest in women coming together to take on new roles that may not have been in before.”

Although McKenzie cites a different element as one of the most “powerful things about the Women Build.”

Cape Fear Habitat encourages folks to make a donation for the project in honor of a strong woman in their life. A $50 donation pays for 1 square foot of space, and, in exchange, celebrates the named person with a special key that is literally placed inside the walls of one of the 2021 homes.

“In the walls, you’re seeing the women who are being honored and supported by this build,” McKenzie says. “It’s also very special for the homeowner as well – you can see the direct impact this will have on their life.”

Both homes will be built side by side as part of Cape Fear Habitat’s twenty-seven affordable home development in Ogden.

McKenzie and her female staff look forward to the build each year.

“We have female construction staff members,” McKenzie says, “but we have a lot of admin staff who are predominantly female.”

In fact, Cape Fear Habitat will soon be women-led by McKenzie herself, who will take over for Steve Spain as executive director when he retires in April. This will be McKenzie’s first Women Build in the new head role. W

TAKE 5

by JENNY CALLISON photo by TERAH WILSON

The re-established New Hanover County Commission for Women began meeting last summer. It’s composed of five members appointed by Wilmington City Council, five by the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners, and one member who represents the YWCA Lower Cape Fear. Its mission, according to chairwoman KATHRYN WANDLING, is to bring awareness to issues faced by the women of New Hanover County. “I like to think of the commission as a megaphone for the women of our community, drawing attention both to issues that need solutions and resources that are already available,” Wandling says.

WHAT ISSUES AND PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT SO FAR? WHAT ARE YOUR PRIORITIES? “Health care issues have been at the forefront of our work. Our Healthcare Subcommittee is hosting a virtual town hall on Medicaid expansion in March along with the League of Women Voters, Women’s Issues Action Team, and the YWCA, and we are partnering with other women’s commissions throughout the state to address vaccine hesitancy among other issues brought to the forefront by the pandemic.” WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND, AND WHAT EXPERIENCE DO YOU BRING TO THE GROUP? “My automatic answer to that question is ‘I’m a lawyer,’ but my experiences as a mother, a daughter, and a friend influence my policy standpoints so much more. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to lead a life surrounded by strong women, including those who are serving on this commission with me, and I feel we all have an obligation to lift each other up.” WHAT ATTRIBUTES DO THE OTHER COMMISSION MEMBERS ADD TO THE GROUP? “I wish I could go through our membership and give everyone a different superlative! Overall, this is a dynamic, thoughtful, and solution-oriented group – three things that I think are essential for public service work. I think our strongest attributes are our abilities to brainstorm and think outside the box and, perhaps most importantly, laugh together and regroup when the challenges seem unmanageable.” WHAT DOES THE COMMISSION HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH IN THE NEXT, SAY, THREE TO FIVE YEARS? “That’s a question that I don’t have an answer to. A year ago, I would’ve told you we’d have some kind of a comprehensive plan. Right now, I can say I hope we continue to provide organized forums for issues at the forefront for women in the community. I hope that whatever the next three to five years bring, we respond in a way that supports all the women of our community.” WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU MOST IN HELPING TO IMPROVE THE STATUS OF AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN IN THE AREA? “How much work we have to do. It can seem pretty bleak and overwhelming – particularly in 2020 – when you think about the issues women still face in this country, particularly women of color and women in lower socioeconomic classes. However, I want us to remember that women are tough as hell. We’ve overcome so much, and I have faith that we will continue to do so. Especially after the past year, I feel so much hope and inspiration from watching the women of this state and this country knock it out of the park.” W

KATHRYN WANDLING’s full profile will appear in an upcoming WILMA Roundup email. To sign up for daily WILMA emails, go to WILMAmag.com.

HOUSE OF PAIN

by DYLAN PATTERSON illustration by MARK WEBER

Dylan Patterson is a writer and filmmaker who teaches English at Cape Fear Community College.

MMy parents’ house doesn’t look like a killer. The manicured lawn. The Japanese maple. The big, welcoming front porch. Despite appearances, however, it’s clear the house has been hellbent on doing my father serious bodily injury.

To be fair, it appears he has been to some degree complicit. Not due to any morbid desire for self-harm, but as a consequence of a hazardous mix of an unearned bravado, an inflated sense of his own dexterity, and a fierce streak of independence. Fortunately for my father, he’s also lucky. Lucky enough, at least, to avoid a mortal wound. So far. My father’s first fall took place in the garage. He was in a rush as he slipped into his favorite “shoes,” so worn and misshapen, they were, by that point, shoes in name only. Topsiders purchased sometime during the Carter administration. Laces rendered useless by weather and age. Soles with neither tread nor grip. By some irrational impulse (I blame the house. A possession?) and despite owning many handsome pairs of barely worn shoes, my father refused to throw them away. So, as he leaped from the steps, he slid on the slick garage floor, and, by my father’s account, his feet slipped out from under him and were over his head momentarily before he landed hard on the concrete. He was bruised but, miraculously, otherwise okay. Later, my mother and I successfully conspired to make the offending footwear disappear. The second major spill occurred during a period when most seniors were painstakingly careful to avoid hospitals. My father, ignoring my mother’s protestations, attempted to navigate the slick wood stairs from their TV room down to the kitchen while in socks and carrying two trays with their dirty dinner dishes.

My father’s account goes something like this: “After a couple of steps, I lost my balance. I squatted to keep a low center of gravity, then figured I could just kneel on the trays and ride them like sleds straight into the kitchen.”

True to my father’s luck, this tactic actually worked for six or seven steps until, due to either a navigational miscalculation or a cruel combination of angle, momentum, and torque, my father’s luck ran out, and his skull connected with the door jamb. “One inch to the left, and I would’ve made it!” he brags.

My mother was left to contend with the resulting mess of spilled pasta, leftover salad, and her husband’s sanguinary head wound, but true to form, other than needing a few staples in his scalp, my father was otherwise fine.

Despite my father’s seemingly earnest resolution to finally start acting his age, I’ve been vigilantly dad-proofing their house by, among other things, applying a grip coating to the hardwood steps, tossing out tripping-hazard throw rugs, and gifting my dad a pair of laceless sneakers with a nonslip sole.

It’s been months since the last fall. Has my father finally become more careful? Have the new safety measures made the difference? Or has the house’s bloodlust finally been satisfied? This is a mystery too complex for a man of my limited insight to unravel. I’m just glad my dad’s okay.