September Newsletter - Week 2
Recap
This week we had Charlotte Bowers, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity. They are a 501c3 non-profit housing ministry that gives a hand up to those in need, not just a hand out. They help Anderson County residents improve their living and financial situations. To date, they have built 63 homes within Anderson County. Although their office is located in Oak Ridge, only 40% of the homes they have built are located inside of Oak Ridge city. They have a Restore in Oak Ridge as well that sells miscellaneous items including building supplies to the public. They also serve people on fixed incomes by completing minor home repairs, roof repairs, and installing handicap ramps. The work is done by volunteers to keep the cost down and the homeowner only has to pay for the materials.The main way they are able to help make home-owning more affordable is by the way their home loans are structured. They do not charge any interest on their home loans. Without interest, many of these loans have monthly payment amounts of $300-350 per month. The homeowner is responsible for the cost of building the home, as well as monthly escrow but without interest. Most of these families usually come from a bad rent situation or government housing with higher monthly rent payments than they can comfortably manage. This program helps them cut their mortgage expenses down to an affordable range and allows them to gain an asset at the same time. It also helps families create a stable environment for their children on a month to month basis.
Habitat for Humanity opens application periods for 2-3 months at a time throughout the year. There are certain criteria these families must meet to qualify. First and foremost, applicants must have a need for better housing. They must also have been a resident of Anderson County for at least 2 years and have the ability to pay that mortgage back with proof of income. They must have a credit check completed and show some sort of effort on their part to pay their debts. Lastly, they require a down payment of $1500 and a certain number of sweat equity hours that will go into the building of their own home. Once they make it into the program, they are required to take credit and cash management classes as well. In actuality, many applicants weed themselves out of the program because they don’t want to put in the sweat equity required.
The homes are built with the help of countless volunteers and donated land and supplies to help keep the cost down. Once the homes are finished, Habitat for Humanity sells the home back to the homeowner for the appraised value. The homeowner, however, only has a loan for the amount it cost to build. There is a silent second loan on the home for the difference between cost to build and appraised value. This keeps the homeowner from profiting off of the sale of the home in the case they wanted to sell it afterward.
Clayton Homes of Knoxville has also been very generous to donate a modular home under the program Clayton Cares, with Anderson County High School, where they build the home. This home has lower criteria to qualify than other homes usually do but requires land donations to put the home on. They are looking for anyone that has land they would be willing to donate or sell to put these manufactured homes on, as well as donations for building materials, driveways, or porches. They are 100% privately funded with no assistance from the government. Everything they receive is donated. Therefore donations are essential to the continuation of helping families in need.
MembershipThis is the first week in some time that we haven’t had visitors with us. After all, many might say that it was no coincidence Kelly was absent! We did have a nice crowd of members and always appreciate the effort to be there each week! |
Items of InterestET was selling coupon books for Kelly this week. They are $10 each and $7.50 of each book sold goes back to helping Clinton City and Anderson County schools. If you did not get one and would still like one, please see ET, Kelly, or any member that has children in the school systems.Disaster Relief efforts continue in Texas and Florida from recent hurricane destruction. Our District Governor sent information on how we can help. What is needed most are monetary donations that can be given directly to local Rotary groups in these areas directly affected. You can visit this site directly for more information: http://rotarydistrict6780.com/hurricane-harvey-donation-information.php Also, Dale Read from the Farragut Rotary Club is sending a truck to Orlando with products from his company. He still has room for four to five pallets of products if anyone would like to send items for disaster relief. If you are interested in helping please contact him directly at dread@readwindow.com or at (865) 250-1882. Tom has been hard at work with the new Rotaract Club at Roane State. We are so thankful for all that he does to represent our club! You can read the featured article here: http://www.roanestate.edu/?11163-News-Welcome-Back-Week-celebrates-students-return-to-Roane-State Kaitlynn Sherwood, our Rotary student serving in Peru, sent an update on her trip so far. Her letter is attached and we encourage everyone to read it. Thank you to everyone that has contributed to her journey so far! Bill has secured the evening of October 27th for a Rotary Social at the Museum of Appalachia. The cost has not yet been determined. Please let Bill know if you think you will be able to attend. There was some debate on the date due to high school football games, therefore Bill would like to know as soon as possible if he needs to reschedule to a different date. |
Upcoming SpeakersSeptember 19Melissa Charles – The Kinkaid House September 26Thomas Cole – Master Sergeant October 3Burt Rosen - Knox Area Rescue Ministries October 10Tim Hutchison – Former Knox Co. Sheriff |
Rotary Club OfficersBill Gallaher Vickie Violette
Ronnie Fox
Jerry Schlandt
Mike Shrader
Gary Coleman
Tom Connolly
ET Stamey
Bear Stephenson
Leighann Green
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Clinton Rotary Club
Meeting Address: 101 S. Hicks Street Clinton, Tennessee 37716
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 524 Clinton, Tennessee 37717