with Annual Raffle House Campaign
By Kathy Bowen Stolz
“What’s Raised in Acadiana, Stays in Acadiana!” The Acadian Home Builders Association and its members are once again in the thick of their annual Home for the Holidays campaign and this has been their motto since the project’s inception 15 years ago.
Home for the Holidays, a non-profit organization, is an annual project from the Acadiana Home Builders Association (ABHA), which partners a volunteer builder donating time with associate members of the AHBA donating materials to build a new, state-of-the-art home. The home will be given away in a raffle right before Christmas – this year on Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. on KATC-TV 3.
Proceeds from ticket sales are dedicated to local, shelter-related charities, including Lafayette Habitat for Humanity, Faith House, Healing House for Grieving Children and St. Michael’s Center for Veterans. So far, AHBA has been able to donate more than $2.2 million to these charities since the project’s inception in 2005.
In addition to benefiting shelter-related charities, a small portion of the profits from Home for the Holidays funds construction technology scholarships at the University of Louisiana – Lafayette to help train Acadiana’s future builders.
Sponsors for this year’s event include KPEL News 96.5 News, ProSource Wholesale and Shivers Homes in addition to Home Bank, Doug Ashy Building Materials and KATC-TV3.
Located at 100 Amber Pond Lane in The Reserve at Woodlake, this year’s Home for the Holidays is a beautiful, one-story home, designed by Jarod Hebert, architect, and built by W Homes, Inc.
The house will be available for viewing during the eight open house dates on November weekends. (See www.homefortheholidaysla.com for details.)
It features 2,480 sq. ft. of living space, including four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms in a triple-split floor plan. The foyer opens up to the dining area and large living room with fireplace, both overlooked by a modern kitchen featuring a brick and wood beam opening, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and an over-sized island with seating. A butler’s pantry connects the dining area to a hall leading to the kitchen.
Crafted for modern living, the home features a separate mother-in-law suite in addition to a master suite with tray ceilings, a generous closet and a bathroom with dual vanities and a free-standing tub in front of a luxurious shower with multiple shower heads. The indoors can flow to the outdoors by using the large front and rear porches. The rear porch is an entertainer’s dream with fireplace, a built-in outdoor kitchen and plenty of room for seating.
The Reserve at Woodlake Subdivision is residential development comprised of 92 lots and with a stocked pond for community enjoyment. Convenient to shopping, hospitals, restaurants, business centers and highways, this quiet retreat is ideally located in one of Lafayette’s most sought-after locations. Residents enjoy quick and easy access to Verot School Road, Camellia Boulevard and Pinhook Road.
During the past four years The Reserve at Woodlake has been host to several homes showcased in the AHBA Parade Homes.
This year’s volunteer builder, W Homes, Inc., is a family-owned and -operated business established in 2005 by Lee and Pam Weaver, who shifted to building after 30 years as owners of Lee’s Air Conditioning business. They combined their love of building with knowledge of construction to form W Homes, Inc.
They continued their philosophy of treating people with respect and doing the very best job possible with this new company. They do not cut corners and keep honesty and integrity as the core of their company. Lee insists on quality in both “the things you can see and the things you can’t see.” On the job site daily, he pays extra attention to all of the details and oversees each job from start to finish.
One of Lee’s favorite quotes is from Benjamin Franklin. A framed needlework copy hangs in his office that reads, “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Pam brings a special touch to W Homes and to the building industry. Women in the industry bring a unique perspective to the table because women make more than 90 percent of the decisions when buying a home. According to Pam, who knows better what women want than another woman?
She has been a member of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) since 1990. Some of her accomplishments include a term as vice president of AHBA’s Professional Women in Building (PWB) followed by a term as president. She has been the group’s Woman of the Year twice. Her involvement expanded to the national level, with Pam serving as Region D representative and then as chair in 2008.
Pam has also been involved with Habitat for Humanity and participated in a NAHB program called Homes of Our Own, in which she presented lessons to third graders in the Acadiana area about building houses.
W Homes, Inc., is a member of the AHBA, which is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade organization founded in 1960 by a group of builders who saw the need to form an organization dedicated to advancing the home building industry. The mission of AHBA is to promote professionalism and ethical business practices in providing quality housing that creates value for the homeowner and the community.
Over the years, AHBA has grown to become an influential association in Acadiana, representing more than 740 members in four parishes: Acadia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermillion. AHBA’s membership includes home builders as well as associates whose industries support building such as real estate companies, mortgage lenders and various subcontractors.
The Acadian Home Builders Association is a chapter of the Louisiana Home Builders Association and the NAHB, and members belong to all three organizations. For more information, visit www.acadianhba.com.
Home for the Holidays provides an opportunity for the AHBA members to give back to the communities that give them their livelihoods. As the incoming president of AHBA, Pam Weaver stated that God has been good to her family, so giving back is just the right thing to do.
That desire to give back is integral to the organizations who serve the greater Lafayette community and receive revenue from the Home for the Holidays raffle ticket sales.
“Our charitable beneficiaries aren’t selected at random, but rather with a purpose because they all provide different segments of our community with safe, secure shelter – either on a temporary or permanent basis,” said Adrienne Fontenot, executive director, AHBA.
“Home for the Holidays exists to assist the Acadian Home Builders Association in executing its mission of providing housing that creates value for our community.
There is a tremendous need for support of these agencies, and we could not individually contribute to them what we are able to accomplish as a whole.
“Our members take pride each and every year in working so diligently on this campaign, which directly impacts the lives of so many of our friends and neighbors. The Home for the Holidays campaign is one of our association’s proudest achievements and are so grateful to everyone – including those in the community – who work alongside us in helping to make our visions a reality.”
Billie Lacome, executive director of Faith House, said, “Funding received from the proceeds has provided us with the ability to build and fund our transitional housing program, provide emergency shelter to victims of domestic violence fleeing from abuse and provide essential support services to help those in crisis.
“Faith House depends on the generous Acadiana community to provide donations to supplement the state and federal funding for our programs. AHBA has done an incredible job of mobilizing volunteers, donors and supporters of this project to maximize the impact on our community. Additionally, this project creates a remarkable outreach of awareness to our cause powered by partnerships with KATC-TV3 and KPEL News 96.5 FM.”
Ben Broussard, chief communications officer of the Catholic Charities of Acadiana, agrees. “Support from the annual Home for the Holidays project has allowed Catholic Charities through St. Michael Center for Veterans to continue investing in the lives of local veterans who are experiencing homelessness.
“Since we started receiving annual funds, we have been able to make a significant impact in decreasing the number of homeless veterans from what was once over 300 to now under 20. Home for the Holidays has given us the ability to expand the physical space of our shelter to provide safe shelter for those who are currently waiting for a room within our veterans’ program. We are eternally grateful for the assistance of HFTH in our work among the homeless veteran population.”
Lindy LeBlanc, communications and community outreach director of the Lafayette Habitat for Humanity, said her organizations has also seen a direct impact on its ability to help the community thanks to Home for the Holidays.
“This partnership has made a significant impact on our capacity to build homes each year. In fact, we have been able to build an additional home each year with the funds that we have received from Home for the Holidays. That means that we have built 14 homes since this initiative began. More importantly, these funds have helped 14 families build safe and stable homes where their families can thrive!”