Habitat completes 100th roof project

Nov. 27--LAURINBURG -- It's been more than a year since Hurricane Florence made her slow journey through the area, and since then Habitat for Humanity of Scotland County has been working to help the local residents whose homes were damaged.

After the hurricane, Habitat launched its Roof Repair Ministry, which as of Tuesday put its 100th roof on a local home. The Laurinburg home belongs to Eva Hamer, who suffered damage to her roof from the storm -- which then led to interior damage from leaks.

Hamer did not have insurance and received no assistance from FEMA, and in her application for the project, stated her concerns about the ceiling in her bathroom beginning to collapse from the leaks and she was concerned it would fall in on someone or leave her with mold.

"We are excited to complete our 100th disaster repair project," said Habitat Executive Director Chris Carpenter. "I never envisioned we would be able to help so many people over the past year. We started with a $20,000 budget last December and we were able to complete 7 projects, we've now spent over $400,000 on 100 projects.

"We still have funding left; we expect to have more approved in the next two weeks, and we are still taking applications," he added.

The local non-profit has received funding from Habitat for Humanity International, the Hurricane Florence Disaster Budget managed by the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management, Habitat for Humanity of North Carolina, The American Red Cross, the United Way of Scotland County, and many local individuals and organizations to help complete the projects.

Habitat also recently held "'A Night to Raise the Roof" event to raise money to put towards fixing local roofs. At the time of the event, which was in September, 76 projects had been completed.

In February of this year, Carpenter told The Exchange that when Habitat for Humanity International came from Atlanta, Georgia, they were taken back by how many roofs were affected in the county, adding that the roof damage in the county was worse than what people thought.

Individuals seeking information about the program can call 910-276-3337 Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at [email protected]

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