Stories

York Habitat for Humanity's 2024 Habitat Heroes

3/14/2024

York Habitat for Humanity presented nine awards to this year’s nominated Habitat Heroes. These are individuals and organizations who have not only gone above and beyond supporting York Habitat for Humanity in some capacity over the years, but they also support multiple organizations throughout York County.

Mike Delp

If you know Michael Delp personally, you know how selfless of an individual he is. He has helped YHFH’s homeowners by donating towards mortgage assistance, he donates to the Habitat program, and he has volunteered as well as provided thousands of dollars of in-kind donations over the years on numerous build sites through MJ Delp Construction.

He has proven that there is not one right way to support YHFH. He has always thought outside the box to help, and he will forever be considered our hero.

Tenfold

Tenfold is an organization that believes housing is at the center of a thriving community, and we agree. Over the years, Tenfold has provided Habitat homeowners with tens of thousands of dollars in closing cost down payment assistance. We consider them a key community partner when it comes to addressing critical housing issues.

Glenn Young

When the Habitat Team first met Glenn they had no idea how crucial of a supporter he would soon become to the organization. We believe the saying, “Volunteers don’t necessarily have the time, but they have the heart” was written about Glenn.

He will volunteer in the morning, leave to attend an OLLI class or to volunteer with another organization, and then come back in the afternoon if he knows the Habitat Team needs help in some capacity. He is always the first person the Habitat Team thinks to call when they urgently need help with something, and he always tries his hardest to be available.

He is a CORE Krew volunteer on the build sites, volunteers at the Habitat ReStore, volunteers in the office, and so much more.

Mary Ellen Mathis

Mary Ellen works for Amazon locally and has been one of York Habitat for Humanity’s biggest cheerleaders within the company for many years. She began scheduling volunteer groups on the York Habitat build sites almost ten years ago. But she didn’t stop there.

Natasha met with Mary Ellen a couple of years ago while an Amazon team was out on site, and Mary Ellen asked what more they could do. Mary Ellen then worked with Amazon to begin donating items to the York Habitat ReStore. Did she stop there? No.

Most recently, Amazon opened a new facility in York County, and they wanted to bless a local non-profit to celebrate the occasion. Mary Ellen suggested they donate to YHFH. Shortly thereafter Natasha received an email from Amazon, (that she thought was fake) stating they wanted to donate $25,000 to York Habitat. It was not fake. Mary Ellen is our Habitat Hero.

Janyce Jorgenson

Janyce sits on the York Habitat for Humanity Women Build Committee, and it’s because of her that our Women Build events are once again a huge success post pandemic. Janyce is recently retired from being the Pastor at Zion Lutheran Church. If you have or know a pastor, you know how busy they are. Janyce never let that stop her. She would volunteer to drive from restaurant to restaurant, asking if they would donate lunches to our volunteers.

She would go to Weis and Giant and ask them for gift cards. She would pick up any necessary supplies for each Women Build week. When the week on site arrived, she would be present to make sure the hospitality table and volunteers had everything they needed.

Republic Services

If you’ve worked in construction, or volunteered on one of the Habitat build sites, you know how much construction waste can be produced. Many years ago, Republic told YHFH they wanted to help prevent Habitat from becoming cost-burdened on the build sites. They offered to pick up and dump all the construction waste at no cost to the organization.

Because they support YHFH in this way, as well as giving financial donations, they have contributed over $75,000 to our build sites over the years. They didn’t stop there. They also wanted their staff to begin volunteering on the build sites. Between their in-kind donations and their volunteer hours on site, they have and continue to save York Habitat for Humanity money that can be used to further our mission.

Dave Jacoby

Dave attends LCBC here in York. Over the years, LCBC has blessed York Habitat for Humanity through their “Be Rich” campaign. They’ve financially donated time and again. Dave has taken it upon himself over the past few years to be the Habitat Champion at the church campus. He has recruited and helped schedule hundreds of volunteers to work on the York Habitat build sites. Last year alone, construction volunteers saved the organization over $83,000 in paid labor. Dave’s efforts were a huge part of that success.

Jennifer Bailey

Jennifer is a member of York Habitat for Humanity’s “Carpenter Club”. York Habitat’s monthly giving program is known as the Carpenter's Club. This unique giving program supports York Habitat’s operations by providing a critical funding stream; building the foundation on which we can continue to expand the reaches of our mission. By sponsoring the Carpenters Club membership program, members help to provide the support necessary for the day-to-day operations that allows us to continue helping families in need of decent, affordable housing.

Jennifer Montalvo

After being evicted from her home following a cancer diagnosis, Jennifer Montalvo needed a more secure living situation for her and her children. She turned to York Habitat for Humanity. Jennifer Montalvo was raising two foster care children and two of her own when she received the diagnosis. She had stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

This wasn’t Jennifer’s first fight against cancer. Her oldest son recently finished treatment for leukemia. The family had barely recovered from his weekly trips to Philadelphia for care.

Through nine months of intensive chemotherapy, Jennifer lost not only her hair but her job. She was still recovering when a late rental payment landed the sheriff on the doorstep of her four-bedroom house. Jennifer and the children moved into her mom’s one-bedroom apartment, then into an even smaller space. She had to stop fostering and turned her focus to survival.

Her uncle encouraged her to look into York Habitat for Humanity. He had built his home through Habitat in Harrisburg years earlier, and Jennifer remembered helping him, working alongside the family to complete the hours of sweat equity required of homebuyers.

She turned in her application and hoped for the best.

A month later, she received a call. Her application had been approved. For months, Jennifer spent every free moment between work and raising kids to complete her sweat-equity hours. She built walls, plastered, painted, and installed floors. Just the first floor was bigger than her family’s apartment had been.

Not long after settling in, she was ready once again to open her home to foster kids. In the four years that Jennifer has been in her York Habitat for Humanity house, she has provided a temporary home for nearly 20 foster children while raising her own four.

Having a place to call her own has made all the difference for Jennifer. She never worries about coming home to find an eviction notice on her door. She has found her forever home and is excited not only to share that with her foster kids but to have an asset to pass down to her children.

More photos from the event