Every 24 minutes another Habitat home is constructed somewhere in one of 100 Habitat nations around the world. More than 1 million people live in these homes and have the dignity and social justice that comes with decent shelter and ownership.
In "The Mystery of Capital" Hernando de Soto states that property can be leveraged into capital. This is why President Bush talks so often about an ownership society: owning a home, owning a good education (public or private), owning a Roth IRA or owning an individual retirement account as a portion of the Social Security payroll tax.
On the morning we dedicated the 200,000 house in Atlanta the 200,001 Habitat house was dedicated in India.
Thanks to volunteers and donors all over America and around the world, we've raised close to $500 million in just five years. Thanks to individual donors like Steve and Jean Case and partners like Whirlpool, Valspar, Lowe's Corp., CitiGroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Dow Chemical, Weyerhaeuser and many others, the money raised goes directly to deserving families in need of homes.
Credit and gratitude should be given to the Fullers and to President Carter for their founding vision and to President Bush and HUD Secretary Alfonso Jackson for helping keep that vision alive and well in this early part of the 21st century. Businessman and lay pastor Jonathan Reckford has recently filled the huge shoes of the Fullers as the new president and CEO.
If you believe as I do in this ministry of the hammer, and if you believe in combating poverty by expanding homeownership in America and the world, please think seriously of contacting a local chapter or the international headquarters in Americus, Ga. If you want to help change the world, consider helping Habitat for Humanity combat poverty housing by becoming involved and helping create more homeowners like the Kouassis.