President Sasser, Jane Parkin, Justin MacDougall and Fred Hart today celebrated the completion of the Santa Fe II — the second house built by our students for a low-income family.
The house was built in the construction bay of Building O, but is now located in the Robinson Heights neighborhood in southeast Gainesville near the Gainesville Hawthorne Trail. Today’s event saw community partners, including Alachua Habitat for Humanity and Santa Fe College coming together for a ribbon cutting ceremony with the new homeowner.
SF instructors and hundreds of Construction and Technical students had a hand in building the energy efficient, three bedroom, two bath, 1,250-square-foot home. A Habitat family contributed more than 400 hours of sweat equity and a cash down payment to buy the home via a 30-year mortgage financed by Habitat.
“Thank you to Habitat for Humanity, Bank of America, Santa Fe College and all the volunteers,” said new homeowner Robert Alexander, accompanied by his 14-year-old son Marquail. “I learned how to be a volunteer through this process and will help others in the future.”
The house is a collaborative effort of the Builders Association of North Central Florida (BANCF), which sponsors the college’s Apprenticeship programs; Alachua Habitat for Humanity; Bank of America, which donated $65,000 to Habitat for the project; and Santa Fe’s Construction Management Technology and Apprenticeship classes.