Wednesday, March 20, Warner Bros. came out to the Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys’ Sylmar Habitat for Heroes site to help construct a new neighborhood for very low-income veterans.
More than 30 Warner Bros. employees came out to show their support for our country’s veterans while getting their hands and clothes a little dirty. Warner Bros. worked on the retaining wall, finishing the plastering in a single day! They are going to come back in the later phases of construction around the same time next year to work on the 12 homes at a more completed construction phase.
This is part of Warner Bros. Impact program; Impact provides eligible Warner Bros.’ employees worldwide with the opportunity to contribute financially and volunteer hands-on for established, well-respected charitable organizations that represent their focus areas in philanthropy and community involvement. Through Impact, Warner Bros. employees and partners can achieve maximum results and make a major difference in the communities in which they live and work.
Warner Bros. also met and built with one of the future homeowners, Evelyn Montenegro, who, with her veteran husband and three children, will be moving into one of the four–bedroom, three-bath homes on site.
Evelyn’s husband, Manuel, served in the Army Reserves for 10 years through two deployments to Iraq in both 2004 and 2009. He is an Ammunition and Ordinance Specialist. The family currently lives in a one- bedroom apartment in Panorama City. The children sleep in the bedroom and parents sleep on the couch and floor in the living room. To qualify for these veteran Habitat homes, built in collaboration with the California Department of Veteran Affairs, families must be low-income and the veteran family member must have been honorably discharged from service. These families will do 500 hours of sweat equity to help build their home alongside their neighbors. After their hours are completed, families will pay a small down payment and hold a low-interest 30-40 year Cal Vet mortgage with a second zero percent interest Habitat for Humanity mortgage. Families will pay no more than 35% of their monthly income for their mortgage, HOA dues, taxes, and water.
The Sylmar community is one of two veteran communities being built by Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys in their Habitat for Heroes program. The second will be an 87-home community in Santa Clarita on Centre Pointe Parkway.