Wells Fargo volunteers join forces to build 27 homes in Charlotte with Habitat for Humanity

The 2023 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project was hosted by country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

Sherrell McMillan,

Staff Writer

[Video overview: Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International; Mary Mack, Retired CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking at Wells Fargo; Rod Banks, Community Relations Consultant at Wells Fargo; Laura Belcher, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity; and resident May talk about the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Charlotte, North Carolina.]

[Music]

[Jonathan Reckford, CEO, Habitat for Humanity International]

We’re here at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Charlotte, North Carolina, and you hear behind us a symphony of hammers and saws and drills and laughter.

[Mary Mack, Retired CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking, Wells Fargo]

This changes a family’s life in a fundamental way when they have their first home.

[Rod Banks, Community Relations Consultant, Wells Fargo]

And you see so many people working hand in hand for folks they don’t even know.

[May, Homeowner]

I can do what I want to do in my home. Oh, my baby girl is super, super excited. She’s going to have her own room for the first time.

[Laura Belcher, President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity]

Our families are hard-working. They apply for a mortgage. We right-size the mortgage based on what the family can afford.

[Reckford]

We are so grateful to Wells Fargo. They have been a major partner with Habitat for decades now. Wells was one of the first to step up to be a diamond sponsor for this project, but it’s much deeper than just the financial commitment. Wells brings skilled volunteers, financial assistance, and expertise as one of the largest lenders in the country to help us increase the supply of affordable housing.

Watch the video: May and her three children will soon be moving into their new home at The Meadows at Plato Price in Charlotte, North Carolina. May is receiving a “right-sized mortgage” from Habitat for Humanity to purchase her first home. (0:59)

Credit: Dustin Wilson

Nine years ago, May heard about a nonprofit organization that helps people in their communities — and around the world — build and improve affordable places to call home.

A native of New York living in North Carolina, May applied for a home with Habitat for Humanity because she wanted something to pass down to her three children. She was unfortunately denied.

For almost a decade, May focused on paying off her debts and later enrolled in a financial literacy program offered by Habitat. Then in 2021, she was selected to purchase a home through the Habitat for Humanity homeownership program. She immediately began working on her “sweat equity hours” and completing the necessary steps to homeownership.

In addition to making a small down payment and monthly mortgage payments, Habitat homeowners must put in 300 sweat equity hours which may also include volunteering on a build site or taking financial literacy classes.

“I cried,” May said of the moment she was accepted. “And then I just kept having to look at the letter because I’m like ‘no, this ain’t happening.’ And I cried the whole entire time. I went to bed crying.”

In October, May and thousands of volunteers worked for five days, building 27 homes during Habitat’s Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

The 2023 build, hosted by Habitat humanitarians and country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, took place in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a large-scale affordable housing neighborhood.

Infographic showing data about Wells Fargo’s partnership with Habitat. Text from infographic in image captions below.

The average Habitat house in the U.S. has 1,200 square feet of space, 3 bedrooms, 150 pounds of nails, 400 two-by-fours, and 250-500 hours of sweat equity from the homeowner. And more than 4,000 individuals have been impacted.

“This has been many years in the making and the Wells Fargo team has always shown up with a strong group with lots of volunteer effort and consistent interaction.”

Laura Belcher

President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte region

“We picked Charlotte because it’s emblematic of the affordability crisis in our country and in Charlotte,” said Habitat for Humanity International CEO Johnathan Reckford. “In the last five years, housing prices have almost doubled, and they were already a stretch for low-income families before then.”

Wells Fargo’s 30-year partnership with Habitat for Humanity dates back to 1993 in Des Moines, Iowa, where employees volunteered to build a home for a family of five. Since 2010, the company has donated more than $129 million to help build and repair thousands of new homes across the country.

“Our partnership with Wells Fargo, I cannot overstate how important it is,” said Laura Belcher, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte region. “What I really appreciate about our partnership with Wells Fargo is that it’s not a one and done thing. This has been many years in the making and the Wells Fargo team has always shown up with a strong group with lots of volunteer effort and consistent interaction.”

Making an impact

As The Bank of Doing, Wells Fargo takes action to put people and communities first.
Wells Fargo is aiming to create 40,000 new homeowners from historically marginalized communities through $60 million to Wealth Opportunities Realized Through Homeownership (WORTH).
Wells Fargo has donated $525 million to support housing affordability solutions for families in America.

Learn more about The Bank of Doing at Wells Fargo.

Tim Ryan, commercial mortgage services director at Wells Fargo, has been a Habitat volunteer for more than 30 years. This, however, was his first Carter Work Project.

“The energy here … just seeing all these people and all these homes going up is just phenomenal,” he said. “I sit behind a desk every day and I’m on calls with clients and things like that. To be able to get out and swing a hammer and work with other individuals from our organization is really fun to me.”

The Meadows at Plato Price in Charlotte is named after the Plato Price School. The school served a once-thriving African American neighborhood abandoned in the 1960s when desegregation took hold. It’s part of a shift in Habitat’s strategy from building individual affordable homes to developing affordable communities.

“When we’re done, there will be 39 families that live here,” Belcher said. “Not only are we building the homes, but we had to do the infrastructure. We put in the sewer, the streets, and the sidewalks. So, we’re really creating a sense of neighborhood, and it’s a big change for us.”

While volunteering alongside other Habitat homeowners during the Carter Work Project, May and her three children have gotten to know their future neighbors.

“Going through this program, we’ve been in the same places a couple of times and we’re all friends now,” May said. “This is an extended family. It’s amazing and a blessing.”

Wells Fargo volunteers hard at work

Mary Mack, Retired CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking for Wells Fargo, has served on Habitat for Humanity’s international board of directors since 2019.
Volunteers from Wells Fargo in the Charlotte area, built 27 homes in five days during the 2023 Carter Work Project. In all, they installed more than 3,000 two-by-fours.
Volunteers at the 2023 Carter Work Project built 27 homes, with 10 being move-in ready. Wells Fargo employees volunteered more than 15,000 hours since 2022.
Since 1993, Wells Fargo employees have volunteered 4.7 million hours with Habitat for Humanity, and built 5,000 homes during that same span.
Since 2010, the company has donated more than $129 million to help build and repair thousands of new homes across the country.
In September of 1984, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter led a group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers to New York, building alongside 19 families in need of safe, affordable housing. That was the inaugural Carter Work Project, which is now a weeklong event somewhere around the world each year. President and Mrs. Carter have worked alongside more than 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate, and repair 4,390 homes. Rosalynn Carter died on Nov. 16, 2023. She was 96.