10/27/07
By Holly Fesperman Lee, Salisbury Post
One local company is not only helping build a Habitat for Humanity house, but they're also helping build community, according to Coleman Emerson, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Rowan County.
Square D, located on Julian Road, has not only supplied volunteers but also appealedto the corporate office for grant money to fund the Habitat house.
Emerson said the Square D company is funding Habitat houses all over the nation and headquarters picked the Salisbury plant to receive some of those funds.
"They thought that would be a good thing, seeing as how they are new in Salisbury. They wanted to be a good community member," Emerson said.
Leadership at the Salisbury Square D applied for and received a grant from the Square D Foundation.
According to John Pitel, the process/project manager at the Salisbury Square D plant, the company, as a whole, has donated more than $6 million worth of equipment and time to Habitat International.
Pitel explained that Square D makes many electrical components all homes need.
"It's much larger than just our small plant here. It's throughout the nation and internationally," he said.
The 1,120-square-foot house is located at Celebration Drive and will go to first-time homebuyer Tonya Gleen when it's complete.
"The project itself is going good," Pitel said.
He explained that things have been busy at the plant lately and they haven't supplied as many volunteers as they'd hoped, but they're doing what they can on the volunteer side.
Emerson explained that the small number of volunteers from Square D also gives other groups the opportunity to participate.
Students from Catawba College worked on the home recently.
Pitel said the local plant wanted to get involved in Habitat because of the corporate office. "They really promote a lot of community service like Habitat and, being that we have a chapter right here in Rowan County, we just decided to go ahead and apply."
"We asked employees if they would be interested in helping out the community and we got a good response," he said.
Pitel added that the experience "is getting us involved with the community and other groups. It's a wonderful opportunity."
SOURCE: Salisbury Post
