Habitat for Humanity Bay County partners with Telephone Pioneers

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – Since 1990, Habitat for Humanity of Bay County has put more than 1,100 families in new homes. On Wednesday, they partnered with Telephone Pioneers to take their program a step further.

Most Habitat for Humanity families are first-time homeowners. They find out very quickly that housing costs consume most of their income. Habitat is stepping in to help them with some basic needs, to make their new home truly feel like home.

“When our homeowners right before they’re getting ready to close, it should be the most exciting time in their life. Almost always they are coming in, in tears the day before. And the reason for that is that they’ve had to move so many times and it’s so overwhelming. But also it’s such an expense too,” Executive Director Angela Klopf said.

The new homeowner’s pantry is exclusive to Habitat’s new homeowners. It’s inside the organization’s donation building located on West 17th Street. The pantry can supply them with items like bedding sets, rugs, small appliances, tables, and more.

“A lot of the homeowners do not have new items when they go from the place that they are renting are ah, don’t have the money. I’ll put it that way to go out and buy purchase new thing., we have a coffee maker, a Keurig coffee maker. We have dishes, we have glasses, we have pans, we have sheets. We have sheets set bedding. Oh, we got towels, rugs,” Telephone Pioneers Dreena Reed said.

Reed said she pushed for telephone pioneers to jumpstart this project because of her long partnership with Habitat.

“I’ve been volunteering for Habitat for Humanity for about 33 years. So to me to help see, to help someone get an affordable, decent home that they can put their kids in, that the kids don’t have to sleep in the same bedroom on the safety nets. That just pricks at my heart because I have three kids that grew up in a safe environment,” Reed said.

The new homeowner pantry has an Amazon wish list. If you’d like to donate or volunteer on future home builds, click here .

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