ESL Volunteers Hold Wall Raising Ceremony for New Habitat for Humanity Home in JOSANA Neighborhood
Rochester, NY — The ESL Charitable Foundation and Flower City Habitat for Humanity raised a wall today on a new home for a family in Rochester's JOSANA neighborhood. The project was made possible by a grant from the ESL Charitable Foundation. Twenty-four ESL volunteers contributed nearly 150 hours of labor and construction on this house, which began in late January.
"ESL and Habitat staff and volunteers have put in numerous hours of hard work to get the house to this point," said David L. Fiedler, CEO, ESL Federal Credit Union and president, ESL Charitable Foundation. "Not only is a deserving family one step closer to owning its own home, but Habitat is helping to revitalize neighborhoods in our community. We are grateful to have Flower City Habitat for Humanity as a valued partner."
"We are incredibly grateful to ESL Charitable Foundation and the employees of ESL Federal Credit Union for once again stepping up and demonstrating their commitment to affordable housing in Rochester by supporting our homebuilding program," said Matt Flanigan, President and CEO of Flower City Habitat. "We're especially grateful with this house, as the ESL team has supported our newest innovative building technique by being the first group of volunteers to build a panelized house with us. We hope that this technique will allow us to build more efficiently, safely, and provide a better volunteer experience during the winter months."
Unlike most habitat homes, construction on the walls for this home was built in a warehouse by ESL employees. This innovative building practice is more efficient, safe, and creates a better overall volunteer experience. Employees will continue to work together, alongside the homeowner, until the entire house is complete.
As part of the Habitat program, each family contributes at least 300 hours of sweat-equity in building Flower City Habitat houses, taking classes in financial literacy and home maintenance, and giving back to the neighborhood through community partners. More than 100 ESL employees will be volunteering up to 1,000 hours on the construction of this house, which will be completed this summer.
In 2013, the ESL Charitable Foundation funded its first Habitat for Humanity home in the JOSANA Neighborhood, where some 200 ESL employees volunteered a combined 1,600 hours to help complete the construction of the home.
Founded by George Eastman in 1920, ESL Federal Credit Union is a full-service financial institution with $5.0 billion in assets. The locally-owned financial institution employs more than 680 people in Rochester, and includes more than 325,000 members worldwide. The company has now appeared on the Great Place to Work® Best Small and Medium Workplaces List for four years (2014, 2013, 2011, and 2010). Access to the credit union includes 20 branch locations and more than 40 ATM locations, locally-based telephone and Internet chat centers, and online and mobile banking channels. The company is headquartered at 225 Chestnut Street, in Rochester, and can be found on the Internet at esl.org.
The ESL Charitable Foundation uses philanthropy to strengthen, integrate and catalyze the community by funding initiatives that drive significant advancement for all.
Flower City Habitat for Humanity, founded in 1984, is a non-denominational Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating substandard and poverty housing in Rochester, NY. Since 1984, FCHH has built more than 200 homes, and is one of the largest Habitat affiliates in the northeastern U.S. Visit: www.rochesterhabitat.org.
