Duran & Venables' Partners with Habitat for Humanity to Help Families

May 3, 2006 Milpitas, CA - Habitat for Humanity (Habitat) by preparing a construction site for a new home at 312 Willow Street in San Jose. The home is being built for a family with two children, one of whom is in a wheelchair. In its 20-year history, this is the first unit Habitat has built to accommodate a handicapped child. The home is also the first project in the region administered by Habitat’s new Women Build program, which brings together women from all social-economic conditions to address the problem of children in poverty by building homes.

The Willow Street home, with an expected value of $600,000 next year, is the latest Habitat project to bring together a caring group of companies and people throughout the area who wish to give back to the community through support, services and volunteer time.

Duran & Venables is one local company that has donated a number of volunteer hours and services over the past few years and recently to the Willow Street project. In July, with a crew of four workers and two machines, Duran & Venables prepped the home site for a dedication ceremony and later excavated the site, built the garage pad and prepared the site for the construction phase.

The City of San Jose donated the property for the home. Eighty percent of the labor and about 10 percent of the materials are donated as well. The new owners of the home are responsible for paying the hard cost of construction—just 40 percent of its estimated value, thanks to Habitat’s volunteers and donations from companies like Duran & Venables.