Habitat for Humanity relocates downtown

Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County is renovating the Campbell House, 213 E. Kirkwood Ave., to be used as its new relocated offices. First Christian Church is leasing the Campbell House next door.\nFirst Christian Church is letting Habitat use the house for 20 years in exchange for some much needed renovations, said Kerry Thomson, executive director for Habitat for Humanity.\n“Our mission remains the same,” Thomson said. “We build simple, decent, affordable houses in partnership with families in need and we sell those houses with interest free mortgages.”\nHabitat for Humanity is a nonprofit Christian housing ministry that seeks to “eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world,” according to its Web site. The organization builds houses for poor families across the United States.\nThomson said some of the requirements to get a home would include a family living in a substandard home which includes living in an overcrowded, unaffordable or dilapidated home. A steady, reliable source of income would have to be proven as well to be able to pay the utilities and mortgage on the home, she said.\nThomson said the new offices on Kirkwood Avenue will be an advantage. Habit for Humanity will be closer to campus, and she is hopeful the closer location will bring in more student volunteers.\n“In our old location, it was really pretty difficult to get students to come out, because we were hard to find and you had to transfer buses to get there if you didn’t have your own transportation,” Thomson said.\nThe charity’s offices, 1119 N. Lindbergh Drive, will be sold to pay for the renovation costs at the Campbell House, Office Manager Sean Price said.\nPrice said they expect to start packing up supplies at the old office by March 6 and move from the old location by March 13. He said the reason for the relocation was because when they first bought the building on Lindbergh Drive, the area was considered in city limits. But because the city rezoned Habitat for Humanity’s current location to a residential zone, the organization needed to move to a commercial zone, Price said.\nPrice said the Campbell House will be the charity’s main Bloomington headquarters. He said volunteers will meet there to discuss issues involving Habitat for Humanity’s causes. Committee meetings by the managers and employees will also take place at the Campbell House.\nTina Jernigan, office manager for First Christian Church, said the congregation did not want the Campbell house to be “just another business,” but something of use for the church and the community. Some, Jernigan said, were asking to tear the house down and make it a parking lot.\nBut in the end it was decided that the purpose for the Campbell House, which was once the church’s parsonage and also a women’s boarding shelter, would have to be something that would help people.\n“We wanted to do something as a mission,” Jernigan said, “and we wanted to have somebody in there that would be a ministry, not a business. ... That was our main focus.”\nVolunteer for Habitat for Humanity in Monroe County must be at least 16 years old. You can contact the main office by phone at 331-4069 or by e-mail at volunteers@monroecountyhabitat.org. Interested IU students can e-mail the IU Habitat for Humanity chapter at habitat@indiana.edu.