Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian house-building organization dedicated to reducing substandard housing and homelessness worldwide. Habitat for Humanity invites people from all faiths and walks of life to work together in partnership, building decent, affordable, permanent houses with families in need--with them, not for them. There are now close to 3,000 Habitat chapters in all 50 states and around the world. We have so far built close to 300,000 homes, providing hundreds of thousands of people with safe, affordable shelter. Local citizens formed Skagit Habitat for Humanity in 1994. Skagit Habitat's first home was completed in Mount Vernon in December of 1995. A second home was completed in Conway in 1996, and a third was completed in 1998 in Sedro-Woolley. In 1998, Skagit Habitat began the construction on an eight-home neighborhood called Habitat Place, in cooperation with chosen partner families and volunteers, on donated property in Mount Vernon. This neighborhood, located at North 29th Place just off East Division Street in Mount Vernon, was completed in 2001. In 2002, Skagit Habit completed a new home in LaConner, our first-ever home built for someone with physical limitations. In 2004-2005, we completed three new homes on Blackberry Drive in Mount Vernon, two of which were for people with physical limitations. In 2006, we initiated work on another new house in the town of LaConner, which was completed in March 2007. In 2007 we completed Melissa Sanchez' home in La Conner and have since started Alma Garibay's home right next door. In 2008 we completed and dedicated a home for Alma Garibay in La Conner, and a home for Jose' and Araceli Soto in Sedro-Woolley. In 2009, we completed our first-ever SHFH Women Build house for the Martinez family, and they moved in just before Christmas. June 2010 marked the completion of our 20th house, with two more underway. Skagit Habitat has also provided home rehabs, repairs, and/or new roofs for more than a dozen local families in need. Because Habitat for Humanity homes are built by the partner families and volunteers from the local community, labor costs are close to zero for Habitat houses. As the builder and the mortgage-holder, Habitat is then able to sell our homes to families in need for the cost of land and materials. Individuals, churches, businesses, and civic associations donate building materials, services, and money to initially construct our Habitat homes. No government monies are used to build Habitat for Humanity houses. Habitat homes are sold at no profit to partner families in need, financed with affordable, no-interest mortgages. Each monthly mortgage payment made by a Skagit Habitat homeowner is put into a revolving fund that is then used to build more houses. In this way, families that work with Habitat will in turn help additional local families to build their own home, and so on.