By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – If you are looking for a unique piece of art to give for a Christmas present this year then you need look no further than the 9th annual fundraiser for the East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity.
One of their two key fundraisers for the year will be held this Friday, Nov. 18 at the Northshore Harbor Center from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m., when the “Home is Where the Art Is” benefit will take place.
The Habitat event has only grown in popularity each year by bringing in new art from regional artists, most of which will be available through silent auctions that night, with a few special pieces offered during a live auction.
Executive Director Debbie Crouch said this year will be especially worth seeing since they were helped by several New Orleans artists from the French Quarter who put the word out to other French Quarter artists.
She said there will be over 100 pieces of art on display that can be purchased through auctions, with over 50 artists represented. About half the artists on display are from St. Tammany Parish with the other half from the Southeast Louisiana area.
“The help from the French Quarter led to a lot of donations for our fundraiser from artists we have never had before,” she said. “It really gives us a lot of special pieces. We have seen how much people like the opportunity to get something really different for Christmas presents, or just for themselves.”
The East St. Tammany Habitat group, also known as the Slidell Habitat organization, continues to reach its mission of providing homes for those who can’t quite afford to purchase one themselves, even though they are working men and women.
This year the Slidell Habitat group will see six families in homes that otherwise might not have made it. The local Habitat group has helped put 113 families in home since they began here over 10 years ago.
Habitat is not a giveaway program. Homeowners must put in sweat equity hours into the home that is built, then they are assisted in qualifying to purchase the home with a low interest loan.
“Our homeowners are working men and women,” Crouch said. “Habitat assists those who can’t quite qualify by giving them financial counseling to improved their credit score. The Habitat program also helps those who don’t have enough for the down payment by helping eliminate or reduce that in the purchase.”
The newest program in recent years the East St. Tammany Habitat has undertaken is the Veteran’s Build program, which pairs a U.S. military veteran with a home.
“You would be surprised that we do have retired veterans who have hit tough times and can’t qualify for a home, so this program has already helped two of them get into homes, with a third home expected to get built next year,” she added.
The Louisiana Veteran’s Festival, held in the spring in Slidell, is the other major fundraiser for the Slidell Habitat group, with all proceeds from that event going to the Veteran’s Build program.
This past year an especially productive fundraising effort called the “Rosie’s” program brought together a group of women’s business leaders in the parish who all put a team together and raised money for Habitat. In the end they raised over $34,000, enough for a third of a house, Crouch said.
“The Rosie’s program was really great, but we rely so much every year on our ‘Home is Where the Art is’ fundraiser since it is one of our two major events of the year. We hope to get a great turnout again this year,” she said.
Table sponsorships and tickets to the event are still available. Tickets are $75 a person or $100 per couple. There is an open bar, food by Patton’s Catering and music by Overboard. For tickets or sponsorships call 985-639-0656.