Since our founding in 1987, Habitat for Humanity of Wicomico County's (HFHWC) mission is to create and maintain simple, decent, affordable housing for hardworking lower-income families in Salisbury and the greater Wicomico County service area. Our Community Building Program addresses blighted neighborhoods and provides volunteer opportunities so people of all ages and races can work side by side to make a difference in the lives of others. Our primary role is to increase the level of homeownership, providing greater stability and neighborhood pride. To date, HFHWC has served 91 families with affordable homeownership. We also serve elderly low-income homeowners with our Critical Home Repair/Aging in Place program. We provide low-income homeowners critical repairs as well as safety modifications so they can stay safely in their homes, longer. Since the program's inception in 2013, 126 critical home repairs have been made to low-income households, with 26 of those occurring in fiscal year 2023 alone. Our Veteran Build program launched in 2022. In fiscal year 2023 we replaced two roofs of veterans through the Owens Corning Roof Deployment program, received funding from the Kathryn Burrell Federico Trust to make repairs and modifications to the homes of Vietnam Veterans, and involved veterans and veteran supporters in a 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance. Our staff wears RED (Remember Everyone Deployed) tees on Fridays to honor those who served. Throughout the fall of 2024 we are hosting a Season of Service for Veterans, including volunteer build days, RED tee shirt days, Veteran Walls of Honor in our ReStores and a Veteran Roundtable luncheon in November to discuss needs of local veterans and to collaborate solutions. In April 2024 our administrative offices moved to a renovated building in Fruitland, MD. The expanded floorplan allows for more staff, greater privacy for our clients, and sets our organization up for the future to better serve more low-income families and individuals with affordable housing as the need continues to grow. In July 2024 we opened our second ReStore Thrift Store location in Fruitland, MD. Our ReStore serves the community by providing a free pick-up service of unwanted, gently used household furniture, appliances, and building materials and reselling donated items to shoppers. 60,000 people walk through our combined Salisbury and Fruitland stores annually. With a second ReStore location, we are growing our ability to serve more families with safe, decent, affordable homeownership.