Subcontractors, vendors, employees of Providence Homes by Bill Cellar and guests helped to plant the seeds of more HOPE in Jacksonville at a ground breaking ceremony last month in OakLeaf Plantation for Providence Home’s second “House for HOPE.”
The sale of a 2,285-square-foot, 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom Flagler model in Stonebrier at OakLeaf Plantation will help more than 700 poverty level families start and maintain their own businesses. The home will feature a great room, formal dining room, study, breakfast area, spacious kitchen, and an upstairs bonus room, as well as full sod and irrigation and a security system.
Vendors and trade contractors involved in the construction of the HOPE house donate time, materials and talent to keep the actual cost of the home as low as possible. So far, The Hutson Companies, developers from OakLeaf Plantation, has already donated $10,000 to get the second House for Hope started.
Upon completion, the home is sold and the profits are donated to HOPE International.
With the help of their vendors and trade contractors, Providence Homes donated almost $100,000 last year to HOPE International from the sale of a 3,164-square foot, five-bedroom, three-bathroom home in River Hills Reserve. HOPE International is a faith-based group that serves the poor in developing countries by providing them with micro loans. The loans, generally $50 - $500, are used to start businesses. Examples include selling shoes or vegetables in an open market or purchasing sheep or pigs for livestock. To date, HOPE International has issued approximately $8 million in micro-loans; approximately 70 percent of the small business entrepreneurs are women in single family households.
“HOPE gives people a hand up, not a hand-out, and that is something that Providence Homes believes in,” said Chief Operating Officer Sean Junker.
“HOPE helps families support themselves, so they aren’t dependent on intermittent money or food donations.”
Nearly all HOPE loans are repaid. That means the same $500 loan that helped one family out of poverty this year will help another family next year and then another family the following year and so on. It’s this principle that makes the “House for HOPE” program so successful, long after the “House for HOPE” has been sold.