LAKE COUNTY — In its continuing effort to address substandard housing conditions, Habitat for Humanity of Lake County hired Joe Cunningham as its new executive director in November.
The organization places qualified low-income families in homes the families and volunteers build together from the ground up. A retired maintenance engineer, Cunningham brings to the job a passion for serving the community and a push for volunteerism.
“My purpose here is just to try to take it to the next level,” Cunningham said.
He said that will involve building the organization”s infrastructure to allow more volunteers, and thus a greater capacity to bring low-income families out of otherwise substandard housing. He said the organization plans to bring a volunteer coordinator onboard in the spring.
Cunningham said volunteers are needed both at construction sites and in the office. Volunteers set their own hours, and the organization tries to match volunteers” skills with tasks the organization needs done.
“This allows people to come in during short times to help their neighbors and help others. That”s what attracted me. With Habitat, the volunteer is the most important person in the organization. Without volunteers, Habitat would not survive,” Cunningham said.
Also key to Habitat”s mission is “sweat equity,” a required number of hours the families spend on the actual construction of the home.
Cunningham is no stranger to volunteerism. He said he volunteered at Habitat in Lake County last Thanksgiving to provide a free dinner to feed the hungry.
Cunningham is a Vietnam veteran who served as a Marine F-4 Phantom fighter pilot, practiced law for 10 years and has served non-profit organizations in construction activities previously.
“I had donated my time for Habitat for Humanity in the Peninsula, and when I moved here I was looking for something to kill the time,” Cunningham said.
Habitat dedicated its 11th house built in the county last month, broke ground on its 12th house in October, and recently selected a family to qualify for and to help build the 13th Habitat home in the county.
During a Tuesday night phone interview with the Record-Bee, Cunningham said he was supervising a group of volunteers who were stuffing envelopes for Habitat”s annual Christmas fundraising campaign.
“They”re stuffing envelopes and laughing, joking and having fun. I”m going to head down and get some pizza for them. They are going to walk out tonight feeling good about themselves,” Cunningham said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
