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Fuller dinner focuses on new beginning, partnerships
Holding its first dinner after its transition from Habitat for Humanity, Putnam County’s chapter of The Fuller Center for Housing looked toward a new beginning Saturday evening.
Stability and partnerships were discussed as key factors to the chapter’s viability, and indeed to make a difference in the community. That is coming to fruition in addressing needed housing locally.
Speaking candidly on the transition, Board President Scott Dunbar noted how Millard Fuller resolved to establish a new organization in 2005, after being discouraged by the direction Habitat was going. Concerns have now been raised about rural affiliates meeting their obligations.
Dunbar referred to Habitat’s new asset assessment plan, in which the chapter’s dues and mandatory tithe would double in two years. This is apart from its administrative needs having increased significantly.
Chapters are also required by Habitat to have a new home every three years, along with a qualified rehab or remodel annually. With Fuller, having no dues and an unrequired “as-you-can” tithe, there is greater leeway to complete projects.
“Fuller allows the local affiliate to determine what their community needs, and allows us to provide the services that we need to help our community,” Dunbar said to that.
Dunbar recalled joining the Habitat-affiliated board in 2016. It was fractured and only getting by financially. The leadership was unsure of how to move forward. Put in as its secretary almost immediately, he later relented after being asked repeatedly to be its president.
Dunbar knew the organization needed a strong leader. So he found one in former United Way executive director David L. English.
Despite Covid, English led the chapter to complete its home on Albin Pond Road in Greencastle. The chapter has also done a remodel for a Vietnam veteran and his wife, and is now working on a garage-apartment kit in Fillmore.
“We’ve got a great board,” Dunbar said, noting it now has 10 members including himself. The leadership is also not changing, with Mark Evans as vice president, Ashley Burns as treasurer and Pat Birkemeier as secretary, who he said “keeps us moving in the right direction.”
With his remarks making up a business meeting, ayes went around as the chapter’s leadership was approved for another year.
Picking up her husband’s speaking to the chapter’s viability, Mayor Lynda Dunbar also offered remarks on how Fuller and the City of Greencastle are planning to work together.
“As the mayor, there’s not a day that passes that we don’t talk about housing,” Dunbar said first.
The goal is to bring in affordable housing, Dunbar said, but that currently means securing a $250,000 loan. Additionally, market-value rents are at $1,100-$1,500 per month.
With it cited among the top needs in the community as a whole, the mayor bolstered Fuller as the answer to affordable housing. She gave this and homelessness as priorities in her administration. In this light, the mayor brought up the prospect of creating a men’s shelter.
Discussions with English, Beyond Homeless Director Lea Durbin and Sheila Holloway of the Putnam County Recovery Coalition brought that vision forth. The overarching goal, Dunbar said, is resources being available to homeless individuals who are making their way.
Dunbar assured grants and donations are being sought toward the effort. Apart from shoring up the financial commitment, she added involving nonprofits that can offer life skills coaching. Fuller, meanwhile, would fulfill its role.
“We’re really excited about this partnership,” the mayor said in asking everyone in attendance to get the message out. “I really hope a lot of you help us start promoting what Fuller can do.
“Everyone here can really make a difference to be a solution for affordable housing in our community,” Dunbar exhorted.
Commenting about “ironies in life” having known Mayor Dunbar since she was a child, English expressed gratitude for the partnership. Giving it as an example of Fuller’s capacity, the Albin Pond Road home was appraised at $270,000. However, the chapter built it for $130,000.
“We will continue to make an impact in this community,” English summed up. “That’s the impact that we can have as a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing.”