Local Habitats see uplifting change following Legacy of Valor

When the Legacy of Valor campaign began a year ago, our region's Habitat for Humanity affiliates were eager to work together to complete a series of veterans' home repairs and builds spanning the life of the campaign. Hundreds of volunteer hours later, the projects serving veterans and their families are a reality. The leaders of the Habitat affiliates reflected on how participating in Legacy of Valor has changed their organizations and our community.

Charlotte County Habitat for Humanity

How often do you receive the opportunity to say "thanks" and honor individuals who felt their action were the right thing to do? Our participation in the Legacy of Valor gave us the opportunity to thank 11 local veterans age 29 to 81 by completing needed repairs to their homes.

Our hearts were touched and humbled by the following feedback:

"The words spoken at my home dedication will forever live in my heart. Every person we came in contact with was genuinely kind and clearly dedicated to giving their best effort. This was an amazing service being provided to veterans who really need physical and emotional help."

We believe newspaper articles and photo essays sharing information about our local Legacy of Valor projects have and will continue to help us connect with new volunteers and donors who want to give back and help make improvements to our community.

Habitat for Humanity Arcadia/DeSoto

Working with the Legacy of Valor campaign allowed us to honor our local veterans! We  have since built stronger relationships with the veterans in our community. We have incorporated the veterans' repairs as part of our Critical Repair Program. Thanks to Legacy of Valor for giving us the means to honor, inspire, and embrace our veterans.

Habitat for Humanity Sarasota

Participating in the Legacy of Valor campaign has helped Habitat Sarasota increase its visibility in the overall community and in particular, with veterans in the area. To be associated with such a worthy project has also increased our credibility – the marketing of the entire campaign has been so widespread and effective it’s astounding and to be associated with such is a bonus for our Habitat. Lastly, but not least, Legacy of Valor has brought to our organization more individuals who are interested in hands-on volunteering. We can never have enough volunteers. Legacy of Valor has helped us recruit those in the community who want to give of their time to help Habitat as we help veterans.

Habitat for Humanity South Sarasota County

The Legacy of Valor campaign has provided Habitat for Humanity South Sarasota County Inc. with the opportunity to introduce our vision and mission to an audience that otherwise might not have been familiar with our organization. The campaign enabled our organization to unite our volunteers, many of whom are also veterans, with local veterans organizations for a unified mission of assisting veteran families in the community. To quote our veteran family who received assistance with their home repairs, “Thank you Habitat for Humanity for being a ray of sunshine and for giving us peace, joy and faith in mankind.”

Manatee County Habitat for Humanity

The Legacy of Valor campaign provided Manatee Habitat with a vehicle for expanding our outreach into the veteran community.  Funding provided through the Legacy of Valor Campaign enabled us to unite community volunteers and veterans to work on a critical home repair for a disabled veteran homeowner and his family.   Through the campaign, we built new relationships with veterans organization in the community and helped educate the community about the housing services we offer. Our efforts led us to a disabled veteran from the Marine Corps who has qualified for the homebuyer program and is eligible to build and purchase a Habitat home.