SJLH employees donate to 'Habitat'
<p>Contributing to the Habitat for Humanity Jeans Day are, from left front to back, KC Hoyer, Kate Stephens, and Habitat for Humanity Board Members Carole Armstrong and Susie Rice, Amy Hayes, Erin Leighty, Dede Kibler, Cathy Wolfe, Barb Dumont, Cindy Peek, Julie MacDonald, John Schwartz, Gayl Smith, Coleen Uribe, Susan Horelick, Sue Graham, Mark Edwards, Janeen Lewis, Jon Reny and Loren Clausen.</p>
The employees at St. John’s Lutheran Hospital once again teamed up to support an important local not-for-profit organization.
This month, Habitat for Humanity was the recipient of $205 donated by the employees for their monthly Jeans Day. The administration at SJLH matched the employee contribution, bringing the total donation up to $410.
Kootenai Valley Partners Habitat for Humanity is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. The local chapter began the affiliation process in 1993 and built the first house in the Kootenai Valley in 1996.
“We are on schedule to build one house every other year,” stated Susie Rice, KVP Habitat for Humanity Representative.
“Last summer we finished the ninth house we’ve built; there are three in Troy and six in Libby. We will be building again next summer.”
“Habitat homes are not given to the homeowners. Each homeowner/partner family is carefully selected based on their need, their ability to repay the loan, and their willingness to partner with our affiliate,” added Rice.
“Each family puts in 500 hours of sweat equity as a ‘down payment’ on their house, and they have a 20 – 30 year mortgage with our affiliate acting as the bank. The biggest bonus to being a Habitat homeowner is that no interest is charged on the loan.”