Brief History
Habitat for Humanity of Martha's Vineyard is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI). HFHI was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller as a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry to work in partnership with people in need to improve the conditions in which they live. Habitat is open to persons of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds. In brief, Habitat's objective is to provide a decent house for those in need.
Habitat for Humanity, a movement of love in action, has expanded rapidly. People are given a means to be responsible stewards of their resources, actively loving their neighbors as themselves. But most important, families are moving into simple, decent, affordable homes.
Today, Habitat is the 17th largest homebuilder in the United States. It has built more than 275,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1,000,000 people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. Habitat for Humanity is a global home-building movement comprising more than 2,300 local affiliates, state support organizations and national organizations in nearly 100 countries. Completing a home somewhere in the world every 24 minutes, Habitat builds nearly 25,000 homes per year.
In 1996 a group of Vineyarders, realizing that finding affordable housing was becoming a major problem on the Island, gathered together to organize a Habitat affiliate on the Island. Then, as now, obtaining land on which to build houses was a major challenge, a challenge that was ultimately met. And, in the spring of 2002, Habitat for Humanity of
Martha's Vineyard built its first house and a deserving Martha's Vineyard family was able to move to its first permanent abode on the Island. In 2004 we built our second and third homes and two more families found their need for affordable housing met. In 2005 we dedicated our fourth home. We expect to have our fifth Vineyard family living in their own home in early 2008 and start are sixth home in mid-2008.