Starkville Habitat for Humanity continues to build in the midst of challenges from COVID-19

STARKVILLE, MS (WCBI) – The Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity has had to deal with work, stoppages, limited numbers of volunteers and a decrease in funding.

But that hasn’t stopped them in their mission to provide new, affordable homes for our community.

“We have to limit the number of people on the job site, they have to be masked, it’s a lot harder for them to do their job,” says Executive Director Joel Downey.

Starkville Habitat for Humanity crews have continued to hammer away at their most recent construction project, in spite of the organization being dealt several blows itself during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in the year, the organization has had to cease construction for about three weeks as well as close their restore for two and a half-months.

“The biggest impact it had on us was we had to cancel our out of town groups that come in the spring time and it left just a few core volunteers to work on the job site,” Downey says.

Normally, Habitat would have about 15 volunteers working on a house. Because of the coronavirus, they’ve had to cut that down to 10.

Downey says that due to the precautions taken because of the coronavirus, they’ve seen close to a 20 percent decrease in volunteers.

“The frustrating thing is we know there are people out there who want to sign up but we just can’t accommodate them because we can’t take the risk,” says construction manager John Breazaele.

Now they’re relying on student volunteers from Mississippi State more than ever.

“There’s not many service opportunities right now because of COVID so we’re trying to help them out and I think it’s just amazing and I’ve actually gotten to meet the family that’s moving into here,” says MSU sophomore Aubrey Diefenthal.

Despite the challenges, Downey says they remain committed to fulfilling their annual goal of building two houses per year.

“Low income families have a really hard time especially hear in Starkville where the rents are so high and the idea of buying a home is just impossible in this market,” he says.

He even has hope that they could come out stronger after facing so many difficulties in 2020.

“We’ve learned how to do more with less and we’ve also shown that we can do it up against some really hard odds,” Downey says.

Habitat’s latest home is on schedule to be ready for it’s new owner by December.

For those who would like to get involved with the Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity, click here.