Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna held home dedication ceremonies on March 25 for two “Habi-Tech” homes, which are houses built in partnership with technical high schools and completed by Habitat volunteers, while, Amazon volunteers helped in a wall raising ceremony for a duplex the company is sponsoring.

The first ceremony was held for the house built by the students of the Harford Technical High School. Harford Tech has built nine such “Habi-Tech” homes for Habitat Susquehanna, seven of which are located in Aberdeen.

Iesha Young will live at the Edmund Street home in Aberdeen with her teenage daughter. Young was required to contribute 250 hours building their home or the home of another; take mandatory financial literacy classes to learn good money management skills; and, take home maintenance classes.

The house sponsors were Aberdeen Proving Ground Federal Credit Union; Bank of America; Battelle; Harford County Government; Community Foundation of Harford County; Harford Mutual Insurance; Maryland Affordable Housing Trust; Rosedale Federal Savings & Loan Association; and, Wells Fargo. Other Contributors were the Civil Utility Construction, Gutter Guys, Ikea, Modular Genius, Ray Kozlowski, Vulcan Materials and Giant.

The second home dedication ceremony was held for a house in Rising Sun built by students from the Cecil County School of Technology. This is the third “Habi-Tech” home built by the CCST’s students in partnership with Habitat Susquehanna.

“We are blessed with unique partnerships with the technical high schools in Cecil and Harford Counties where students build homes for us at the schools’ campuses,” said Yvonne Golczewski, executive director of Habitat Susquehanna. “The students gain first-hand experience with a purposeful construction project that prepares them for good-paying jobs when they graduate, while helping to solve what matters in the lives of low-income families in our community – the basic need for a decent, affordable place to live.”

The homes are moved to their lots in nearby communities and finished by Habitat volunteers, Golczewski said.

On the same day as the home dedications, Amazon volunteers took part in a wall raising for the next and final duplex to be built by the organization, located at 509 and 511 S. Stokes Street in Havre de Grace. Representatives of the City of Havre de Grace, the Dresher Foundation and St. Margaret Parish attended as house sponsors.

In February, Amazon presented Habitat Susquehanna with a check for $54,000 towards sponsorship of unit 511, according to a news release from Habitat Susquehanna. At the presentation, 50 Amazon employees built the exterior and core walls of the first floor of that duplex’s unit at an Amazon warehouse parking lot in Sparrows Point.

The homebuyer of 511 S. Stokes Street, Heather Jalufka, is a single mom with a nine-year-old son who is living in the basement of a family friend’s house while waiting for her home’s completion, Golczewski said. About 70 percent of Habitat Susquehanna’s homebuyers are single mothers who were living in substandard housing, Golczewski said.

“The work we do in our community is really important,” said Keyon Young, Amazon’s regional director of operations, during the check presentation . “We don’t just move boxes and build big buildings in communities; we are a part of the community. I’ve always wanted to do a build because I think it’s one of the basic necessities of life and dignity to make sure people have decent housing. We’re not just swinging hammers, we’re doing good for people in the community.”

Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna is an ecumenical Christian housing organization devoted to building and repairing homes in partnership with qualifying families. The organization’s vision is to create a community where everyone has an affordable and decent place to live. Since its inception in 1993, Habitat Susquehanna has served over 700 families through its homeownership, repair and financial literacy programs.

Interested applicants can visit the Habitat Susquehanna website and complete an interest form to be invited to an upcoming orientation: https://habitatsusq.org/our-programs/homeownership.

After two years of construction at the Harford Technical High School, the “Habi-Tech” home was transported to its final, permanent location on Edmund Street in Aberdeen, Maryland, where Habitat volunteers completed the house build. A home dedication ceremony was held March 25, 2022 to celebrate the completion of the homeownership process with the Habitat homebuyer, volunteers, donors, sponsors, Board members, Habitat staff and the community. (Courtesy Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna)

Iesha Young receives her house key from Habitat Susquehanna’s Site Construction Supervisor Jim Diel during her home dedication ceremony, March 25, 2022. (Bill Carson/Courtesy Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna)

Amazon volunteers pose in front of the sponsorship sign with Heather Jalufka and her son. Jalufka is the homebuyer of 511 S. Stokes Street in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and the $54K Amazon sponsorship will go towards their home. (Bill Carson/Courtesy Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna)

Amazon employees stand in front of the completed panel build of 511 S. Stokes Street. The walls to that home were built on Amazon's Sparrows Point parking lot then delivered by trade partner and in-kind donor Rick Dilworth to Havre de Grace for the March 25 wall raising ceremony. (Cathy Herlinger/Courtesy Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna)

Homebuyer Heather Jalufka and her son raised the walls of their future home at 511 S. Stokes Street in Havre de Grace, Maryland, with the help of Amazon volunteers in a March 25 wall-raising ceremony. (Bill Carson/Courtesy Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna)