In February, one of the founding forces behind the local Habitat for Humanity chapter passed away. Bob Marshall filled his 96+ years with a commitment to his community and its most vulnerable members fueled by a Quaker-infused sense of justice. From redeveloping a block of old houses in Philadelphia, to leading Self-Help Enterprises through its emergence as a leading community development organization in the Central Valley, to making the dream of a Habitat for Humanity chapter in Visalia a reality.

Bob always “walked his talk”. He was part of the Habitat board that hired Betsy Murphy, the organization’s first executive director. She reflected that Bob’s persistence and leadership was a key driver to those first years of building homes with an all-volunteer team. He, together with Mary Lou Burbery, Bill Decker and many others, brought this crazy idea of “no profit/no interest” affordable homeownership to Visalia. As the organization grew to encompass all of Tulare County and Kings County, Bob and Joy were always there to encourage subsequent generations of leaders.

Recognized by the Visalia Chamber of Commerce as “Man of the Year” in 1993, those of us who knew Bob can only hope to have a fraction of the influence that he had on the lives of so many. He was a leader to be emulated by all.

HANFORD — Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties ReStore in Hanford is helping build communities in more ways than one.

The ReStore, located at 415 W. Lacey Blvd., is essentially a home improvement thrift store, where donations of new and used items related to the home, including appliances, furniture, windows and doors, cabinets, flooring, light fixtures, ceiling fans, electrical supplies, tools and many other items are sold.

Beyond this, the ReStore is so much more.

The reason the ReStore was originally created was to fill a need that Habitat staff members saw over the course of their work, said Deanna Saldana, resource development director at Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties. Saldana said construction companies would buy more than they needed for a project and would end up throwing the material and items away in landfills.

Habitat for Humanity formed relationships with these construction companies and contractors to eliminate that practice, with the idea to resell the items and use the funds to support the organization’s mission, which includes affordable home ownership and home repair programs.

“It just kind of snowballed from there until now, with ReStores located across the United States and Canada,” Saldana said.

In addition to being environmentally friendly, Habitat saw the ReStores as an opportunity to support a mission that helps the community on so many levels.

Right now especially, Saldana said, so many people are sheltering at home and are taking the time to do remodeling projects. She said not only can they check out what restore has to offer, but at the end of the project, as long as the items are functional, they can donate leftover items and get a tax break. In turn, those perfectly good older items could be resold to someone who could reuse them.

“It’s just a win-win-win for everybody,” she said.

A lot of items, like furniture or cabinetry, don’t get worn out, they just go out of fashion, Saldana said. However, as the saying goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, and someone may see that item as a one-of-a-kind find that they can give new life to through repurposing or upcycling.

“You can find some really unique items,” Saldana said.

Habitat for Humanity of Tulare County — before it officially incorporated Kings County into its service area in 2016 — opened its first ReStore in Visalia in 2004 and that location continues to grow, Saldana said.

The organization believed so strongly in the ReStore and its mission that it decided to open the Hanford location in 2018, Saldana said. While many people may not know about it yet, she said the ReStore is truly a gem that helps the community in many ways.

Undoubtedly the pandemic has impacted the business like many others, but Saldana said the ReStore is also an important place where the community can learn about Habitat for Humanity and get involved in its efforts.

“Once you realize that it’s there and what it has to offer, you can discover all kinds of opportunities,” she said.

The reporter can be reached at julissazavala@hanfordsentinel.com

Thrivent and Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties partner to help families stay in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Visalia, CA (Dec. 14, 2020) – Thrivent is awarding Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties a contribution of $5,000 to help families in Tulare and Kings counties stay in their homes. Thrivent’s donation will allow Habitat to provide mortgage relief to Habitat homeowners who need temporary assistance making their mortgage payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. With Thrivent’s support, Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties will help keep homeownership costs affordable for 4-6 families in Tulare/Kings Counties who are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID.

Prior to the spread of the novel coronavirus, more than 18 million households across the U.S. were paying half or more of their income on a place to live. As the pandemic continues to cause job disruption and economic fallout, many households are enduring lay-offs, unemployment, and pay cuts. This wage loss has amplified the financial burden on households to maintain essential payments and can result in families having to trade-off between bills, mortgage, or medical care.

“As we deal with the fall-out from COVID, it is crucial to continue to work to provide stable and affordable homes for our neighbors.” said Executive Director Dirk Holkeboer. “Our community will recover when everyone has the solid foundation of a secure place to call “home”.

Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties is one of 100 local Habitat organizations across the nation partnering with Thrivent to help families stay in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, Thrivent is donating $750,000 to Habitat for Humanity to assist with mortgage-related relief and prevent foreclosures across the U.S.

“This year has been incredibly difficult for many people as financial hardship has added stress and anxiety to daily lives,” said Nikki Sorum, senior vice president of Thrivent Advisors at Thrivent. “This pandemic has underscored how important it is for people to have safe, affordable homes. Given all we have endured in 2020, we are especially honored to provide financial support to Habitat for Humanity to help people stay in their homes so they can continue to build toward financial stability.”

Habitat for Humanity and Thrivent began their partnership in 2005. Over the past 15 years, Thrivent and their clients have contributed more than $275 million to Habitat and have partnered with families to build safe, affordable homes across the U.S. and around the world. Locally, Thrivent members participated in several home-building projects in Visalia.

About Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties
Habitat for Humanity of Tulare/Kings Counties has been working with local families since 1994. With more than 40% of the area’s population considered cost burdened when it comes to housing (i.e., spending more than 30% of household income on housing costs), the need for affordable housing is great. Because of the continued support of the businesses, congregations, the local community, service organizations and individuals, Habitat for Humanity has been able to make homeownership a reality for 68 families in Tulare and Kings counties while helping hundreds of other lower income homeowners with needed home repairs.

About Thrivent

Thrivent is a diversified financial services organization that helps people achieve financial clarity, enabling lives full of meaning and gratitude. As a mission-driven, membership-owned organization, it offers its more than 2 million members and customers a broad range of financial products, services and guidance. Thrivent and its subsidiary and affiliate companies offer insurance, investments, banking and advice over the phone, online as well as through financial professionals and independent agents nationwide. Thrivent is a Fortune 500 company with $152 billion in assets under management/advisement (as of 12/31/19). Thrivent carries an A++ (Superior) rating from AM Best, a credit rating agency; this is the highest of the agency’s 16 ratings categories and was affirmed in May of 2019. For more information, visit Thrivent.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

You can support Habitat Tulare/Kings. Find out how!

Nearly 30 women (and a few good men) from the local community joined habitat staff at the first Winter Women Build on December 4th & 5th in Hanford. Construction staff took time to demonstrate the skills needed for each task and make sure that the volunteers were comfortable with the tools and the tasks for the day.

Teams tackled building a fence while others hung drywall and painted the eves on the house exterior. There was even a lesson on how to use a circular saw!

Women Build is designed to take women out of their comfort zone and give them the opportunity to learn new construction skills that they can then use at home for their own projects.

Check out a video of the women in action.

Thank you the Winter Women Build Sponsors.

SoCalGas, Pacific Western Bank, The Hanford Rotary Community Foundation

Tackett Marketing, Griswold, LaSalle, Cobb, Dowd & Gin LLP, Family Health Care Network, Kings County Board of Realtors.

Lowe’s Porterville & Grocery Outlet.

In late 2016, Ernie worked with his sister to remodel a house for his mother and step-father . As a 14-year-old, it was more work than he expected, and the volunteers who helped his family build their future home, created a mixture of excitement & fear. Would this be a “forever” home, or just another stop along the way?

Five years later he looks back at that time as a true blessing and is grateful for everyone who helped build the Habitat home that would change his future. As Ernie prepares to go to Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he counts his blessings for the community support, and for Habitat for Humanity giving his family the opportunity to build strength, stability and self-reliance.

Recently, Ernie sat down and talked about his journey with Habitat. HEAR THE INTERVIEW

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