EnergyUnited Foundation Awards $10,000 to Our Towns for Habitat for Humanity

STATESVILLE, N.C. – The EnergyUnited Foundation is pleased to announce it has awarded a grant for $10,000 to Our Towns Habitat for Humanity, an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, serving North Mecklenburg and Iredell counties.

Our Towns promotes affordable housing in the Lake Norman and Statesville area through two main programs—new home ownership and critical repairs. The new home ownership program provides low income families, who might not otherwise be able to buy a home, a path to home ownership with an affordable mortgage. Families must meet income and residency requirements, commit to homeowner and financial education classes, and serve 400 “sweat equity” hours, which are earned through working on the construction of their own home, volunteering on other build sites, in our ReStores and in the office.

The organization also offers a critical repair program which addresses essential health and safety repair needs for families who already own a home and whose limited income makes it difficult, if not impossible, to afford these essential repairs.

“So often senior citizens who own their homes have to make tough choices — between fixing the roof or paying the electric bill, buying food or medicine,” said Chris Ahearn, Our Towns Habitat for Humanity CEO. “Energy United has seen this need and is taking action, helping Our Towns Habitat make homes safer and weatherproof for these citizens who often have nowhere else to turn.”

Maureen Moore, communications manager for EnergyUnited, explained that the organization’s work and their mission directly impacts many of their members. “Our Towns Habitat for Humanity continues to make an incredible impact on EnergyUnited members through two essential programs,” Moore said. “Housing standards do not simply affect one’s comfort, but they also tremendously affect one’s overall standard of living. Critical repairs can often help address these issues and significantly reduce wasteful energy spending.”

“We are very thankful to receive this support from The EnergyUnited Foundation,” said Tom Fitz Gibbon, grant coordinator for Our Towns Habitat for Humanity. “This assistance will help fund our critical repairs program and will positively impact the availability of safe, sustainable affordable housing for our residents and communities in North Mecklenburg and Iredell Counties.”

The EnergyUnited Foundation is a voluntary, member-funded non-profit organization supported by EnergyUnited’s Operation Round-Up program. Nearly 70,000 EnergyUnited members choose to participate in the program by ‘rounding up’ their electric bills each month. The maximum monthly contribution for an individual member with one account is 99 cents. Each of these small contributions are pooled together in a single fund managed by the EnergyUnited Foundation to support needy individuals, families, and non-profit organizations like Our Towns Habitat for Humanity that complete an application explaining the reason and purpose for their requested grant.

About EnergyUnited

EnergyUnited Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) is the largest electric cooperative in North Carolina serving nearly 131,000 metering points. Headquartered in Statesville, EnergyUnited provides electric service in portions of nineteen counties in west central North Carolina which include Alexander, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Stokes, Wilkes and Yadkin. EnergyUnited Propane provides products and services to more than 24,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in 74 counties across North and South Carolina. Visit EnergyUnited online at www.energyunited.com to learn more about our electric and propane businesses.