Habitat for Humanity of Dane County and Wells Fargo team up to build affordable housing

Wells Fargo Builds, the philanthropic arm of the Wells Fargo Foundation that supports the construction, renovation, painting or repairing of homes with low-to-moderate income households, recently awarded Habitat for Humanity of Dane County a grant for $30,000 to help build two homes in Madison and Fitchburg. The funding is part of an $8.1 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International for capacity building and direct mission support to build, renovate and repair more than 350 affordable homes across the United States. This grant is provided through Wells Fargo Builds and is part of the Wells Fargo Foundation’s $1 billion philanthropic commitment to create more housing affordability solutions by 2025. Locally, these funds will be used to help pay for the construction on two Habitat homes for: Milly and Ernesto, who moved into their Habitat home in Fitchburg. “Thank you very much to all the sponsors, people who make donations, and volunteers who are working behind the scenes making our dream of having our own home come true,” Milly said. Kiera, and her two sons, 11-year-old Lerontae and three-year-old Courtavien, who will move into their Habitat home in Tennyson Ridge on Madison’s Northside. “I went to a Habitat informational meeting and once I saw the qualifications, I knew I was not going get in the program. I started working on building my credit and paying off debt because I knew I wanted my own house and I was determined to give my kids stability. I reapplied, and I was approved. It was the happiest day of my life,” Kiera said, “I want my kids to know that nothing in life comes easy and you have to work for it. With the help of Habitat, my family will be able to help build and watch our house become a home. We won’t have to move from place to place and will have something stable and something we worked hard for and can make memories in.” Wells Fargo Builds provides philanthropic financial assistance from the Wells Fargo Foundation to support the construction, renovation, painting or repairing of homes with low-to-moderate income households. In 2019 alone, Wells Fargo employees volunteered more than 1.9 million hours of service to strengthen their communities, including building, repairing, and improving 674 homes across the U.S. with several organizations through Wells Fargo Builds.