Four new charity duplexes unveiled in Richmond

In May, HomeAid Houston, the Greater Houston Builders Association, Chesmark Homes, Abigail’s Place and Attack Poverty celebrated the dedication of four new duplexes in Richmond. These homes will provide safe transitional housing for single mothers and their children experiencing circumstantial homelessness such as loss of a job, an illness, losing a family member who was the breadwinner, or fleeing domestic violence.

Two non-profit agencies partnered for this project. Attack Poverty works to empower people to attack poverty in their life and community by strengthening under-resourced communities through spiritual growth, education, revitalization, and basic needs. The agency sold the land to Abigail’s Place for the new construction and will assist in providing resources for the new families.

Pictured (L to R, rear) are Rush Pitts, Chesmar Construction Manager; Mett Carroll, ED Abigail’s Place; Brad Whatley, Board President Abigail’s Place; Lawrence Dean, HomeAid Board President. (L to R, front) are Jenny Jones, Sr. Director of Programs at Attack Poverty; Suzanne Whatley, Sugar Land Council Member; Aimee Bertrand, GHBA CEO; and Jessica Espiritu, Chesmar VP of Sales and Marketing.

Abigail’s Place new housing provides the capacity to house 12 homeless mothers and children for four to six months while receiving services and advocacy to prepare them for sustainable independent living.

Abigail’s Place Executive Director Mett Carroll said, “Abigail’s Place provides emergency transitional housing and other essential services to homeless mothers and their children who are facing traumatic circumstances beyond their control. The need is overwhelming. We get more than 50 phone calls a month from women desperate to find a safe place to live for their children and themselves. HomeAid and the Greater Houston Builders Association introduced us to Chesmar Homes and the Chesmar Foundation, who stepped up as Builder Captains to design and build four new homes that will be a safe haven for countless single mothers and their children. We can’t thank you enough for helping Abigail’s Place help these fragile families.”

Chesmar Homes’ Jeff Johnson, who led construction on the project, said, “Chesmar Homes was honored to play a small role in helping Abigail’s Place meet the needs of single mothers in our community. These four beautiful homes will provide shelter and hope for families searching for the peace and security needed to restart their lives. The ribbon-cutting ceremony last week was a great reminder of how fortunate we are to be neighbors building homes for neighbors.

“We thank Don Klein, founder of Chesmar Homes, for his generosity, Rush Pitts and Eli Fischer for building these homes, and Dan Toth and Josh Khune for working with 31 of our trade partners who contributed to turning these generous resources into amazing results.”

HomeAid Houston’s core construction programs facilitate the construction or renovation of homeless shelters utilizing the pro bono construction resources of members of the Greater Houston Builders Association and its trades to save homeless service providers from 20%-100% of construction costs. Since 2003, HomeAid Houston has completed 78 projects which house over 5,000 homeless men, women, and children annually.

For more information about HomeAid visit www.homeaidhouston.org. or call 281-970-8970. For more information about Attack Poverty visit www.attackpoverty.org . For more information about Abigail’s Place visit www.abigailsplace.org . For more information about Chesmar Homes visit www.chesmar.com .