Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys presents the 2014 Hammer of Hope Award at the annual Builders Ball Gala on Friday, February 21. This year the award is presented by LA City Councilmember, Felipe Fuentes, to The Home Depot Foundation. Local veteran leaders will also be recognized for their organization’s work with the Veteran Service Award. Gary Bryan of KEARTH 101 will host the night’s event.
This event will also highlight and celebrate the veterans and their families who will be moving into the Habitat for Heroes Enriched Neighborhoods® for veterans, currently being built in collaboration with The California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet). Theresa Gunn, Deputy Secretary of Farm and Home Loans for CalVet will speak at the event and present Veteran Service Awards to veterans from the San Fernando Valley.
The Hammer of Hope award is presented to community leaders who have helped forward the organization’s mission to lift hard working families out of an endless cycle of poverty housing and to provide veterans a gateway to the American Dream so they can build brighter economic futures. Those who received the award have had an extraordinary impact on improving access to quality affordable housing in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, and Antelope Valleys.
In the last three years, the Home Depot Foundation has provided funding and Team Depot volunteers to Habitat for Humanity SF/SCV to provide Critical Home Repairs/Disability Modifications to 19 homes of low-income veterans and their families living in North LA County. They have also provided significant funding to aid in the construction of the 12-home Sylmar Habitat for Heroes Enriched Neighborhood® and the Santa Clarita Habitat for Heroes Enriched Neighborhood®–both communities are for low-income veterans and their families.
The leaders receiving Veteran Service Awards at the event are all veterans who represent organizations that provide services to veterans in the Santa Clarita or San Fernando Valleys. The veterans who are being recognized from Santa Clarita also represent “The Santa Clarita 7%”, that is the 7% of the population that is made up of veterans. These awards will be presented by Santa Clarita Mayor, Laurene Weste.