Each year, Habitat hosts an elegant evening of fine dining and an entertaining auction at the Pinehurst Country Club. We hope to raise enough funds to build an entire home with the proceeds of the evening. As we began planning late last summer, we had no idea if we would even be able to celebrate together in person, but our fearless committee led by Diane Wilson and Joanne Conrad decided to forge ahead with alternate plans in place should we need to shift to a virtual gala. We were ecstatic to learn in January that we could at least host our closest 97 friends at the event, and even happier to learn in March that we could add an extra 30 to the headcount. We sold out our tickets and hoped for the best, knowing that with less than half our usual crowd, we may not be able to meet our fundraising goal. But our attendees had another plan!

After the delicious filet mignon dinner and the opportunity to mingle for the first time in months on the beautiful veranda overlooking Pinehurst #2, our guests were ready to share their generous hearts with our Habitat families.

Beginning with our Build-A-House auction, we set a record of $145,000 raised in donations! We moved onto our live auction with a spirited battle for beach vacations, golf packages, and more, raising an additional $15,000. Then, our beautiful tool totes stuffed with sponsored goodies rounded out the fundraising with an additional $14,000. In all, our event generated over $200,000 – double our budgeted goal! Since our hope at Habitat is to serve as many families as possible, we are choosing to use this spectacular event’s gifts to fund 2 entire homes in the upcoming year. We are grateful to everyone who sponsored the event, donated toward the auctions, and purchased tickets, totes, or auction packages.

Our celebration included a video contributed by Dan Dreyer of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau highlighting some of our favorite members of the Habitat team as well as a tribute to Freida Powers. Freida’s children and grandchildren were on hand to receive Freida’s Golden Hammer Award for cumulative giving of over $30,000. Also recognized as new Golden Hammer members were Bill and Paula Montgomery.

Each year, we recognize our newest Golden Hammer recipients at the gala as we celebrate. To learn more about our Golden Hammer and Legacy Society or to join our gala committee for 2022, contact Amie at afraley@sandhillshabitat.org.

Our home in Robbins for Ofelia is standing strong and ready for siding. The volunteers from local churches this year have reached an all time high. Thank you to our volunteer Faith Relations Coordinator, Dan Joslin, and the church leaders gathering the teams.

First Baptist Church

Triple Decker Dedication June 17^th

The 2022 Women Build Committee will kick off our first meeting in June and we need creative minds and helping hands. This group meets once a month virtually and/or in person to plan the perfect blend of activities and events that bring volunteers to the build site and acquire the donations needed to fund a new home. They are famous for the beautifully orchestrated “Fashion Show” lead by Kathy Beddow and Lynda Moegling. They are also working on bringing back the very popular event “Ashley’s War” Book Event honoring women in combat which was canceled due to the pandemic. This a group of self-starting, strong women who want to share their strength with other women led by Sally Brown. If you think this is a good fit for you, please reach out to Sally at sbrown@sandhillshabitat.org.

The Gala Committee will be taking a few months off and will reconvene in September lead by Karen Dulmage of Main Street Mortgage Loans and is tasked with raising $100,000 for a new home. If you enjoy an exquisite night on the town for a good cause, this one is for you. We will solicit individual and company supporters to create a “Habitat Tool Tote” filled with their favorite things for the silent auction and put together package deals for our live auction. We meet once a month via Zoom and in person. Be a part of something grand! Email Stacy at slebak@sandhillshabitat.org if you are interested.

Our Honey-Do Team is the "sweetest" group of women you will ever get to know and is perfect for you if you can no longer work on the build site or be on your feet for a long time. We work on invitations, thank you cards, and mailings over coffee and treats. They are the angels of marketing and you can earn your wings by emailing Stacy at slebak@sandhillshabitat.org. We meet most months on Thursday mornings. You need not attend every project, just the ones that are convenient for you!

Saturday of every month.

On a beautiful Saturday morning in Aberdeen, 27 volunteers from Pinehurst Surgical Clinic and Friends of Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Inc. came out to build on our Homeowner-in-Progress, Sanae El Graini. Sanae came from Morocco in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in law which she was unable to use in America, she has gone back to school to earn a new degree. During her 300 hours of required sweat equity, she says the best part of partnering with Habitat is learning something new every day.

When you come out to the build site we promise you that you will also learn something new and build confidence in yourself! Is your company community-oriented? Do you want to schedule a build day and be a part of Sanae’s new home? Your eyes will shine when you proudly announce “hey, that’s the house that I help build!” Interested? Contact Christy at volunteer@sandhillshabitat.org.