Charity begins at home

REALTORS® and Habitat Bring a Local Family Home
WASHINGTON, July 28, 2008

Martina Dunston of Orlando, Fla., will soon have a place of her own to call home thanks to the National Association of Realtors®. On Saturday, Realtors® raised the walls of Dunston’s new Habitat for Humanity home.

Dunston and her three children, James, 7; Amya, 4; and Destini, 18 months, were joined by leaders of NAR, the Florida Association of Realtors®, the Orlando Regional Realtor® Association and Habitat for Humanity Orlando at the wall raising ceremony. The Dunston family will receive the keys to their one story, three-bedroom home when it is dedicated during the 2008 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Orlando, November 7-10.

“Realtors® build communities and are committed to helping families like Ms. Dunston and her children realize the dream of affordable homeownership,” said Mark Foreman, NAR vice-president and liaison to committees, who spoke at the ceremony. “We look forward to joining Habitat for Humanity in November and handing Ms. Dunston the keys to her new home.”

Martina Dunston has personally contributed more than 250 hours of sweat equity, building Habitat houses for other local families before construction of her own home began. In recent years, several other Habitat for Humanity houses have been built in Dunston’s new neighborhood.

For the past eight years NAR has worked together with Habitat for Humanity International to build a home in the host city for NAR’s annual conference. Realtors® have also contributed to Habitat for Humanity’s post-Katrina homebuilding efforts along the Gulf Coast and abroad.

The 2008 REALTORS® Conference & Expo will take place at the Orange County Convention Center. This year’s conference, with the theme “Destination Success – Full Speed Ahead,” will feature hundreds of conference sessions, more than 700 exhibitors, and tens of thousands of real estate professionals from the U.S. and 50 countries.

Habitat for Humanity Orlando is a not-for-profit, ecumenical, Christian organization dedicated to transforming the lives of low-income, hardworking families through the American Dream of homeownership. It is one of approximately 2,100 local affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International. Support from sponsors, donors and volunteers directly benefit the Central Florida community. To learn more about Habitat for Humanity Orlando or to make a donation, call 407/ 648-4567 or visit www.habitat-orlando.org.