Credit Union provides new van for Habitat for Humanity

United Federal Credit Union (UFCU) of St. Joseph, MI presented a $5,000 donation to Harbor Habitat for Humanity to purchase a cargo van that shuttles volunteers and building materials. The non-profit organization that promotes homeownership through partnership with families to provide safe, decent, affordable places to live has been without a reliable van since fall when their 15-passenger van required more money to fix than the van was worth. Habitats mission is to eradicate sub-standard housing in Benton Harbor and Benton Township, Michigan. "We learned about Harbor Habitat for Humanitys need for a new van and stepped in to help out this group that depends so much on its volunteers," stated United Federal Credit Union President and CEO Gary Easterling. "For an organization that uses 2,000 volunteers a year, we didnt want transportation to be a limitation." Harbor Habitat for Humanitys Executive Director Erin Hudson said the van serves many purposes. It is used to transport volunteers from their ReStore location and construction office to home building sites. ReStore accepts then sells gently used furniture, appliances, and building materials, where proceeds go to Habitat. The van transports groups of volunteers, and in consideration of neighbors, picks up groups from a location when there is not enough room for parking several cars. Hudson said the van also transports items such as windows, cabinets, appliances, furniture, carpet, and flooring when deconstructing houses, then re-selling these items at ReStore. Habitat also owns a box truck for transporting large items from a deconstruction site. Churches often lend their vans to Habitat when they have big groups of volunteers. "Volunteers are the driving force of our organization. This donation from United Federal Credit Union will allow us to maximize volunteer opportunities, which enables us to give someone an $85,000 mortgage vs. a $120,000 mortgage," stated Hudson. "Donations, volunteer hours, and our partner families sweat equity enable us to change our community one family at a time."