First-generation homeowners close on Habitat for Humanity home

ALBANY – There was an eloquence to Phoebe Putney Health System President/CEO Scott Steiner’s simple declaration.

At a celebration of the closing on the Pascoe family’s Habitat for Humanity home on Monroe Street in Albany, a project that was made possible through a $200,000 donation by Phoebe, Steiner looked at the first-generation homeowners and said, simply, “Salisia … Bryant … Bryanna … Welcome home.”

Steiner was part of a large gathering of Phoebe and Habitat for Humanity employees, as well as friends and relatives of the Pascoe family, who became homeowners with the closing of the property that is part of a Phoebe/Habitat effort to bring new life to the area around the hospital.

“Today marks the completion of an almost year-long process that this family has undertaken,” Flint River Habitat for Humanity President Scooter Courtney said before the ceremony. “This is why we bust our butts all year long, to see days like today.

“This is part of the first new construction in downtown Albany in quite some time. It’s life-changing for this family.”

The home-ownership did not come easily to mom Salisia, son Bryant, 20, and daughter Bryanna, 16. Each put in hours of work as part of the Habitat requirements for ownership.

“To become first-generation homeowners … this really means a lot,” Salisia Pascoe said. “This plants a seed for myself and for my kids of what can be accomplished with a willingness to work. We put in the hours – volunteering, more than 300 hours of service at the Habitat Re-Store, painting and working on the house – but today makes it all worth it.

“To be here in this beautiful home, in a quiet neighborhood that’s right by the hospital … we couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Courtney said the Pascoe home – dubbed the “Phoebe House” – is part of a busy run of work for Flint River Habitat. The nonprofit has two more houses near completion in the Phoebe area on properties donated by the hospital, five new houses under construction in the Dougherty County Brook Hollow subdivision, and five projects underway in a downtown Leesburg development.

“I shamelessly plug Phoebe’s leadership; they’ve proved that they care about their community,” Courtney said. “This is their neighborhood, and they’re helping make it better.

“Phoebe’s donation allowed us to go from intention to action.”

The Habitat president pointed out that Habitat for Humanity gets no federal or state funding, and as a nonprofit gets no local tax funding. Its projects are financed using grants, donations and money raised at the Habitat Re-Store.