Heart of Iowa Habitat for Humanity is continuing their Helping Hands projects in Greene County.

Associate Director Jeff Lamoureux says the process to select projects every summer goes through several different channels. An individual or family submits an application, which is then reviewed by the families program committee. Once a project is selected, Lamoureux says the construction committee will then give a cost estimate of the project and schedule how many days it will take to complete it. Then the church and volunteer relations committee coordinates the different church congregations and volunteer groups to work on the project.

Lamoureux points out that the homeowner is left with a mortgage for the cost of materials with a zero-percent interest rate. He explains why they have a repayment plan for the homeowner.

“Is a couple of reasons, one a lot of the times it is a pride issue for the homeowner. They like knowing that it’s not just a handout, that they’re contributing to it. But also it helps us sustain our program. So we got payments coming in, now we’ve got dollars that can go to the projects for next year and the following year. So it helps us, help others in the future.”

Contact Lamoureux’s office at 386-3093 to ask about the guidelines for qualified applications and how to apply for next year’s projects.