Eaton Corporation and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch sponsor Habitat home

A $25,000 donation from Eaton Corporation and $10,000 donation from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch will help pay for the construction of a new Habitat house in West Asheville. Located in Habitat’s Hudson Hills neighborhood, this house is Eaton’s 8^th and Bank of America’s 6^th house sponsorship. Additionally, the lot on which the house sits is sponsored by “Adopt-a-Lot” sponsors David Greiner and James Gray who made a $10,000 gift to purchase the land.

Once completed, the house will be purchased by Dee Shannon who, with her daughter Chenoa, is currently working on the “sweat equity” component of their partnership with Habitat. This means they are taking homeownership classes, participating in the building of their home and others in their future neighborhood, and helping at the Habitat ReStore. When both construction and sweat equity requirements are complete, the family will purchase the home and repay a 30 year, 0% interest mortgage to Habitat.

In lieu of a traditional wall raising event, Eaton recently held an ice-cream social at their headquarters in Arden so that more than 100 of their employees could meet the partner family and write messages on studs that were later used to build the first wall. A similar event is being planned for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch employees.

Over the past ten years, Eaton Corporation has donated a total of more than $310,000 in cash, in-kind donations, and through matching employee gifts to Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity! Eaton donates electrical products for each Habitat house built in Buncombe County.

Bank of America/Merrill Lynch has donated a total of nearly $79,000 in that time period for home construction and through matching employee gifts. “We are so grateful for long-term partners like Eaton and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch who enable us to continue to build safe, decent, and affordable homes in our community,” said Betsy Warren, House Sponsorship Coordinator. “Habitat truly is about partnerships and these two companies are great examples of what it’s all about.”