Lending Many Hands to Habitat for Humanity

There are two new homes gracing Essex Street in Savannah’s Tremont Park neighborhood, thanks in part to teams of workers from Imperial Sugar’s refinery at nearby Port Wentworth, Georgia.

The neat three-bedroom houses are part of Habitat for Humanity’s efforts to revitalize Tremont, an area with a past history of crime, drugs, and prostitution. It had been written-off as a slum. Today, Tremont has a high safety rating, according to Virginia Brown, executive director of the Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity has build 23 new houses in Tremont, and it’s made all the difference.

Brown says that after an explosion shut down the Imperial Sugar refinery in February 2008, something unexpected happened.

“Imperial called, and said, ‘we have wonderful employees, and they want to give back to the community that has given so much to us. Do you have anything at Habitat for Humanity for us to do?’ I told them, yes, we have a lot to do.”

It was a good match. Habitat for Humanity relies on generous volunteer support, and the Imperial workers were available to lend a hand.

The teams of Imperial Sugar workers literally helped to raise the roof of the houses. Under the supervision of a Habitat volunteer, the Imperial employees worked ten hours a day, three days a week for nearly a month … framing the two side-by-side houses, putting up roofing trusses, roof sheathing, and installing insulation.

“For me, personally, it really speaks volumes for the character of Imperial Sugar … that they would first of all support their employees in such a project,” says Brown, as she stood in from of the now finished homes. “To see a company that supports volunteer involvement as a work ethic within that company, and approaches it in this untraditional way was very overwhelming to me.”

“We literally could not build these houses without such volunteer involvement,” Brown says.

In all, the Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity has built 100 homes in Savannah. To learn more, click here.