Montco, Delco chapters of Habitat for Humanity merge

The Habitat for Humanity organizations in Montgomery and Delaware counties are joining forces.

Marianne Lynch, the executive director of the Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County, is now the executive director of the newly named Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery and Delaware counties.

It began more than 15 months ago, Lynch said, when the Delaware County organization, which has an annual budget of about $300,000, came looking for advice from Montgomery County Habitat, which has a $1.7 million annual budget.

Both chapters operate something called a “ReStore,” a retail store which sells used furniture and restored housewares at deep discounts. Montgomery County’s in on Trooper Road in Norristown and Delaware County’s on McDade Boulevard in Ridley Township.

The stores are supposed to provide one stream of income, “about enough to pay for one house per year,” but the Delaware County stores was only “breaking even. So they approached us to get some advice on best practices and the more we talked, the more both boards realized it made sense to merge.

The Montgomery County chapter serves a population of about 822,000 and there are about 500,000 more in Delaware County.

“This allows us economies of scale which will mean we can serve a larger area of need,” said Lynch. “This partnership expands our capacity to build and repair homes, engage communities and uplift families.”

She said no jobs will be lost as a result of the merger.

In Montgomery County, Habitat’s efforts have focused primarily on Norristown and, within the past two years, in Pottstown as well.

Lynch said the expanded organization’s commitment to those communities has not changed.

“It’s important to stress that this will not impair our ability to do revitalization work in Norristown and Pottstown,” said Lynch.

“We are still committed to doing to two full rehabs at 439 and 639Walnut street and six repair jobs in the area of Beech, Walnut and Chestnut where we’re concentrating our efforts,” she said.

In Norristown, Habitat will continue its focus on revitalizing Cherry Street. “We’re still working on acquiring a few properties in Norristown,” said Lynch.

In Delaware County, areas of focus will be Darby and Upper Darby, as well as “some ownership opportunities we have for four lots in Lansdowne.”

“But we’re going to do a call for requests for bids, to see which communities want to partner with us and where,” said Lynch.

Habitat has plans for its signature “Rock the Block” clean-ups in Norristown on Sept. 16, in Pottstown in the spring to coincide with “Pottstown CARES Day,” and is currently looking at undertaking one in Delaware County in June.

Asked about taking on more responsibility without an increase in pay, Lynch laughed and said “this is exciting to me. And as someone who has been in the position of not having dependable housing, this is not work. It’s a calling.”

BOB RAINES — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO Volunteers make a temporary plywood and lumber walkway to bridge the area where they dug out a concrete slab in front of a Habitat for Humanity property on Basin Street in Norristown during the Rock the Block community improvement event Sept. 17, 2016.

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO Patricia Nnah, holding her 10-week-old daughter, Lukeni, cuts the ribbon on her new home in North Hills with assistance from Gary Lasher, vice president of the board of Habitat for Humanity in Montgomery County.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO Michele Nichols, Debbie Tevlin and Kelly McGettigan work to build a new gate for the side yard at 430Walnut St. in Pottstown as part of a Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County program called Women Build.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County’s Women Build program strip coatings from the original doors at 430Walnut St. in Pottstown.