Habitat to hold Raise the Wall ceremony for double build

Habitat for Humanity of Findlay/Hancock County will hold a Raise the Wall ceremony for its second double build of the year at 8 a.m. Sept. 10. Construction of the 52nd and 53rd homes will officially begin with the ceremony at 1331 and 1315 Olney Ave. The event is open to the public. House 52, the Willford family home, will be a Women Build event, which aims to provide women with the opportunity to take a proactive step in serving their communities. While women are encouraged to participate, Women Build does not exclude men — all are welcome. This year's Women Build is dedicated in memory of Mariann Dana Younger. House 52 sponsors include Marathon Petroleum Corp., McNaughton-McKay Electric Company, the Younger family, State-Farm Corporation and National Lime and Stone. House 53, the Tiell family home, will be a "family challenge" build, with a special gift being made by Fifth Third bank in honor of the home being Habitat's 53rd build. Robert "Bob" Edds, a community volunteer, together with his wife Debora, son Cory and daughter-in-law Eeva, have issued the "Edds' Family Challenge" to match gifts $1 for $1 up to $50,000 to build this house. Sponsors include Anderson Co., Marathon, McNaughton-McKay, GSW, ADP, the Edds family and Fifth Third Bank. Speakers for the event include the Rev. Richard Purvis, St. Paul's United Methodist Church; Wendy McCormick, executive director, Habitat for Humanity of Findlay/Hancock County; Dave Heppner, Habitat for Humanity board vice president; and representatives from the Younger and Edds families. Following the prepared remarks, a countdown will commence and the first walls of each home will be raised simultaneously. A livestream of the event will be available on the Habitat for Humanity of Findlay/Hancock County's Facebook page for those who wish to attend virtually. These two homes will be completed simultaneously. More than 300 volunteers are needed to build each of these new homes in just six weeks. These are the third and fourth homes to be built in 2022, as Habitat completed a double build earlier this summer. The commitment to construct two double builds in 2022 was made to help stabilize more families within the community.