The Emotional Meaning of Home

Our homes are more than financial assets. They have deep emotional meaning. For those of us fortunate enough they are the backdrop for our childhood memories — the places we played and argued and hung our artwork and marked the door jam with pencil lines as we grew taller.The houses of our childhoods represented to many of us a good measure of the success our parents had attained, an outward expression of how hard work had paid off in comfort and safety and the respect of the community.

Helping just one family buy and build a home is accomplishment enough, here is a short list of what all our caring donors and volunteers have made possible.

• As of May 2009, nearly 2,000 individuals live in the homes built by  volunteers in Stark and Carroll Counties. Approximately 1,600 of these individuals are children.
• As of May 2009, over 2,140 TONS of reusable materials have been diverted from landfills by the Canton ReStore since it's opening in  2005 – through merchandise sales and recycling.
• Habitat for Humanity of Greater Stark and Carroll Counties is a leader among U.S. affiliates, ranking #1 in Ohio, and remaining among the top 30 in the nation since 1995.
• In 2005, we became only the 7th affiliate out of 1,700 to reach the $1 million mark in tithing (10% of unrestricted donations go toward building houses in Ghana, West Africa and Central America).