NeighborWorks Week. Courtesy photo.
CENTRAL COAST — Fifteen current and past students from Peoples’ Self-Help Housing’s College Club, their parents and community members volunteered Sunday, June 12, assisting 11 families with assignments around their new homes through PSHH’s Self-Help Home Ownership Program.
The students and their families lent a hand as part of NeighborWorks Week, a celebration that brings together affordable housing organizations, volunteers, neighbors, businesses and others across the nation.
Under the supervision of PSHH’s construction superintendents, participating volunteers put a lot of hard work into painting, grading and leveling, cleaning street gutters and drainage systems and sweeping, all while learning about teamwork from the owner-builder families. These 11 families have been working together for the last six months to build their homes on the 6900 block of Atascadero Avenue and are expected to receive keys to their new houses in December 2016.
“What a great opportunity to instill the values of community engagement, philanthropy and volunteerism in our youth, the next generation. What a gift for them to realize they can make a difference at a young age,” said John Fowler, President/CEO of PSHH.
The day culminated in a family-style picnic that gave the Self-Help Builder families a chance to share their experience of hard work and the “sweat equity” it requires to build their homes. It was the ultimate lesson in what it takes to make a dream come true.
PSHH collaborated with community development partner NeighborWorks America for NeighborWorks Week, which took place June 4-12 across the United States. The week is designed to celebrate neighborhood change and awareness. Volunteers around the country worked to rehabilitate and repair homes, paint and landscape properties, conduct neighborhood tours, recognize successful partnerships and host community events.
Past PSHH NeighborWorks Week collaboration experiences includes festivities in June of 2015, when a group of the Youth Education Enhancement Program students brought meals to share with seniors living at PSHH’s rental properties in Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles and Santa Maria.
About PSHH: Founded in 1970, PSHH is an award winning non-profit organization that develops affordable housing and community facilities for low-income households and homeownership opportunities for working families and special needs populations, such as seniors, veterans, the disabled, and the formerly homeless. With nearly 1,200 self-help homes completed and almost 1,700 rental units developed, PSHH is the largest affordable housing developer on the Central Coast, with offices in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. For more information on Peoples’ Self-Help Housing, visit www.pshhc.org, email communications@pshhc.org or phone (805) 781-3088.