Warren Haynes Donates $500,000 to Asheville Area Habitat  

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Christmas came early in Asheville this year when Warren Haynes presented Asheville Area Habitat with the proceeds check from the 2013 Warren Haynes Presents: The Christmas Jam — a record-breaking $500,000! Haynes who played in Charlotte, NC the night before and was enroute to Alpharetta, GA for another show, chose to stop in Asheville to make the special presentation in person. Xmas Jam proceeds now exceed $1.8 million!

“Stef and I were overwhelmed. We knew it was a good year, but we were surprised by how good,” said Haynes of the final number. The significant increase over past years was due to a number of different things he said, most notable the fact that it was a 2-night, 25th anniversary show. “Merch also sold incredibly well, we were able to keep expenses down, there was Pay-Per-View and new partners like Sierra Nevada…it were a lot of different factors.”

Executive Director, Lew Kraus notes that donations of this size are few and far between and this will go a long way to helping Habitat with the most capital intensive part of our work – acquiring and developing land. Speaking of land…

The short event was held at Habitat’s newest subdivision, Hudson Hills. Habitat offered Warren and his wife Stefani Scamardo the naming rights to recognize their long-standing commitment to and the couple chose the name to honor their young son, Hudson. Recently just a plot of land, Hudson Hills is now an active construction site and the future home of 25 single family homes, thanks in part to the generosity of Haynes and Scamardo and their successful benefit concert.

The street into the subdivision – Soulshine Court – also honors Haynes. About the name, Haynes remarked, “Soulshine is a song that resonates with many people and it’s particularly meaningful to me because it was inspired by my father. He worked hard as a single dad to raise me and my brothers in Asheville, so it’s fitting that a street named Soulshine Court will be in my hometown and that it will be a place that 25 families will call home.”

We presented Haynes with a Soulshine Court street sign. One event attendee suggested he put in his tour bus, an idea Warren seemed to like.

Read the Asheville Citizen Times article here, or view our online photo album.

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First-Ever Family Vacation

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We love hearing success stories from our families—it is “gas in our tank” as we like to say. The other day, our Family Support Administrator, Jeff Paul, was catching up with a Habitat homeowner who moved into her home last October. She is a single mother with three children. Asheville Area Habitat’s homeownership program is designed to set families up for success. When we hear a story like the one below, it is affirmation that the process is working.

Here, we see three aspects of our program at play: All partner families are required to take classes prior to purchasing their home. Among the many classes, one is “Manage Your Money” offered by OnTrack Financial, where families learn about budgeting and planning ahead. Another is our Homebuyer Education Class, taught by Jeff, in which he teaches families how to wisely purchase a car without creating a new financial burden for their family. Additionally, all Asheville Area Habitat houses are Green Built NC certified—they are environmentally friendly and very energy efficient. Of course, once the family purchases the home, it is up to them to use what they learned.

What Jeff had to report from their conversation was definitely gas in our tank!

I had a nice conversation with Felicia today out at Swannanoa. Felicia closed on her Thrivent sponsored Habitat home last fall. I asked how her summer is going, she said “AWESOME!!!” Since moving into their house, she has been carefully monitoring her expenses and is amazed at the difference the house has made. Her water bill runs about $80 every other month and her electric bill has not been above $83. Previously, in her trailer, those were numbers to dream of. Recently, her minivan started causing trouble and was in need of some very expensive repair work. She shopped around and found a newer vehicle for a smaller payment, so she traded in the old minivan. She said she has been very careful with the extra money at the end of the month and has been making sure she stashes a portion of the savings in the bank.

During our conversation, her daughters came running out; they were all excited because, “Mom is taking us to the beach!” This is their first vacation as a family…EVER! Felicia said that in the past she was always too stressed out about making ends meet, their living conditions, and how she was going to provide a better life for her kids to even think about taking a vacation. They will soon head to the South Carolina coast for a very well-deserved family vacation. Her Habitat house is most definitely the “hand up” that this family needed.

We parted ways after she showed me the flowers and vegetables her kids were growing. It made me proud to be a part of an organization that creates these types of opportunities.

 

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