“We’ve Been Involved since 1983”

In the early days of Atlanta Habitat, the warehouse was just the back of a pickup trick. The build start took place at the actual build site, where all the materials had been delivered throughout the week.  

Instead of the 11,000 square foot campus that we have today, the Habitat headquarters was in a two-bed, one-bathroom home, serving as a model for what we could build at the time.

Volunteers were asked to bring their own tools, if they had them and anyone who signed up to be on the advisory board was quickly told that it would be a “working board.”

When Bill and Eve were asked by fellow members of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta to join the original board, they were put to work.

Not only are they expected to share the Habitat mission far and wide, but they must act as fundraisers, builders, and step into any other role the young organization needed.  

“There was no set job description,” Bill stated. “You just did what was needed.”

Following Millard Fullers ambitious lead, the new board took to the streets of Atlanta to ask their neighbors to donate money, materials, or manual labor.  

“If anybody had an idea and was willing to do it and make money for Habitat, everybody was for it,” Eve said. “I remember one time we were raising money and we had decided to have a bird house sale. And so, we got different people, different artists and friends and to make birdhouses.”

Because the headquarters were in a Habitat house, everything raised went right into the homes. People could physically see what happened with their dollars – a key approach we hold onto today.  

Many who volunteered in the early days, and even now, state that Habitat’s mission just makes you want to volunteer and do more. Building a house with little to no prior construction experience is fulfilling enough but meeting the homeowners and forming relationships with the people who you are building with adds an extra layer.  

Since 1983, many things have changed. Our warehouse lost its wheels and gained a more permanent address at 824 Memorial Drive. Each house leader has their own trailer filled with all the tools volunteers will need to build with. But those traditions set by the original “working board” remain the same; our current board members continue to step into whatever role they are needed.