About Us
Text Box: Habitat for Humanity of Lebanon County was founded in 1990 by a group of local church leaders and business persons concerned about decent, affordable houses for Lebanon County families living in less than adequate housing. Since its inception, the organization has built or refurbished twenty six houses providing a decent place to live for 40 adults and 60 children. These families were able to move out of their substandard, unsafe housing into wonderful homes they now own. The first house was completed in the Jonestown area in 1992. The second, at 10th and Mifflin Streets in the City of Lebanon, was completed in 1995. The third project taken on by Habitat was a group of three townhouses at 12th and Brandywine Streets. At this point the affiliate decided it could no longer build houses just on Saturdays. During the townhouse project Wednesdays were added as a work day for a group of retired folks headed up by our then Treasurer, Robert Haskell. This huge project took nearly four years to complete. The third family moved into their home in 1999. In the year 2000 our local affiliate began its partnership with the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center. We purchased the first of six lots from them at 423 Beechwood Avenue. After overcoming some initial reservations from the neighbors, our families were accepted into this quiet, family neighborhood on the east end of the city. In 2001 we purchased our next two lots from LCCTC. Habitat volunteers and families worked on the home at 416 Beechwood while the LCCTC shop classes worked on 422 Beechwood. Both houses were dedicated in 2001. 2002 brought another new project for us. We purchased a house that was severely damaged by fire to begin our first refurbishing project. Because of the time involved in first gutting, then rebuilding this house, the family moved into their new home in early 2003. Meanwhile, work was continuing on our fourth house on Beechwood Avenue at 415. This family moved into their new home just before the holidays in 2003. In 2004 we took a giant leap of faith by moving up to building three houses in one year. To help us to meet this goal, the Lebanon County Builder’s Association volunteered to build one of our houses for us. This house at 406 Beechwood Avenue was built in June in just 58 hours! Meanwhile, we finished work across the street at 401 Beechwood Avenue. Our third site for 2004 was another burned-out house we refurbished on North 12th Street. The families for all of these houses moved in by the end of the year. For 2005 we saved a house that was in worse shape than any other we had ever worked on. After contractors replaced the structural beams that were severely damaged by a fire, we were able to have volunteers start rebuilding. It took most of the year but it was certainly a project to make our construction volunteers proud. To meet the requirements of our Open Door Challenge Grant we purchased a house at 203 Mifflin Street and acquired one through HUD at 1023 Church Street. We also purchased the property at 1023 Monument Street that had numerous code violations. Even though we didn’t quite get this one to the point of an occupancy certificate, Habitat International still approved us for the $20,000 grant. In 2006 participated in the Habitat International’s National Builder’s Blitz where over 400 houses were built across the country to house more than 1,000 people. The Lebanon County Builder’s Association built for us a two story house at 328 Lehman Street during this time. we completed most of the houses acquired in 2005. We also came to an agreement the local United Church of Christ Council to have them sponsor our first fully handicap accessible house for a family with a severely disabled child. This house was completed in 2007 just before the holidays. Our first Apostle Build project, which is the first house totally built and funded by a group of Churches in Lebanon County, was completed in 2008. In the same year we continued our partnership with the Lebanon County Builders Association who helped us build two new, handicap-accessible houses. The builders provided some of the materials and lots of the labor and the remainder of the materials were purchased with the help of a program called “Banking on our Community”. Through this program five local financial institutions (Lebanon Federal Credit Union, Northwest Savings Bank, The First National Bank of Fredericksburg, Jonestown Bank and Trust Company and Commerce Bank) provided over $24,000 in funds towards the build. Also in 2008 we partnered with Thrivent Financial and the local Lutheran churches to provide a home for a family of nine. We started with a beautiful brick home that had sustained considerable fire damage, added some bedrooms and a bathroom, and completely remodeled the house inside and out. The house is finished and the family has moved in. In 2009 a house on north 13th Street has been remodeled for a family of four five of the seven townhouses on Worden Street were completed. To plan for the future we just acquired a 2-acre building lot in North Lebanon Township and by the end of this year will have settlement to acquire three houses that are being donated to us. So far in 2010 the final two townhouses on Worden St. were completed and the families have moved in and we are currently working on 2 homes on Walnut St. that were ravished in a horrible fire! Habitat for Humanity IS making a difference in the community where we live and work!

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