DuPage Habitat for Humanity celebrates 20 years of help

During its 20 years, DuPage Habitat for Humanity has helped about 100 families in need get new homes or fix up their old ones.

Glen Ellyn resident and beneficiary of the nonprofit Ann Marie Andexler was one of many in the community who joined to celebrate the group's decades of work and many lives changed at a special breakfast Dec. 2 at Cantigny Park.

"[After getting my Habitat house], I could just dream again," Andexler said. "I can think about my kids going to college and making a difference in the world and having a home here with a roof over their heads. ... We can grow up and grow out."

Andexler and her four children were able to move into their home in July 2013 after coming to the area to seek a better life and flee their old one.

After getting help through homeless family nonprofit Bridge Communities, she and her family had to search for a new place to live that was both affordable and big enough for their needs.

Andexler said her parents, who died before she moved into her home, suggested Habitat.

For an entire year, she took the required classes and performed the 250 hours of community service to be eligible for Habitat's zero interest mortgage program, asking friends and family to watch her elementary and middle school-age children on the weekends.

Samantha Fisher, the nonprofit's director of development, said single mothers made up a large portion of the nonprofit's partners over the last two decades.

She said the program worked hard to be a "help up," not a handout – something needed in DuPage County, despite its reputation as affluent.

"People who reside in DuPage have a higher earning potential, so every year here struggling and fighting is changing the trajectory of generations to come for these families," she said. "Not having affordable housing has a harsh effect on your options."

Dick and Florence Nogaj founded the organization in 1995 after seeing the need for decent, affordable housing for families who were otherwise productive members of the community but may not be able to get a house on their own.

"We knew there was a need; it just was not being recognized by the powers to be," Dick said.

Despite Habitat already having a good national reputation, there was no local chapter because there was the belief that it wasn't needed.

The pair decided to change that and began reaching out to businesses, community groups and everyone else they could think of in the pre-Internet days to form a support network. They formed an all-volunteer board, began sending out donation mailers and started hunting for properties they could buy and re-do, eventually building their first in West Chicago.

"It blossomed very quickly. Habitat in general is a great organization and has infrastructure in place," Dick said.

The nonprofit originally struggled to get properties built, with frequent resistance put up by those who didn't want low-income housing in their neighborhoods.

Dick said they quickly turned the perception of the developments around with quality housing that matched the feel and aesthetic of buildings around it.

Dick and Florence, who stepped away from the organization more than a decade ago to do low-income development work in Florida and returned for the Dec. 2 breakfast, said they were proud of what the organization had become but heaped most of the praise on the volunteers who made it work.

"I believe Habitat is a really great opportunity," Florence said. "People know where their money went and can see it and get to know the family that are benefiting from their donation, whether it be of money or time. A person that donates has more ownership of the outcome."