WINDSOR – Somewhere between the “Mountains to the Sea” lies Habitat for Humanity of North Carolina’s (HHNC) newest homeowner.

Specifically, it will be a new homeowner from Bertie County.

That’s where the newest and latest of the State Employees Credit Union’s “SECU Habitat Mountain to the Sea Challenge” – a project to build a home in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties – will take place.

And there’s more: a $450,000 grant has been made to the Challenge from Oak Foundation of Chapel Hill to give a further boost to the program. This grant will cover most of the administrative costs associated with the oversight of HHNC’s $10 million SECU Foundation partnership.

The Challenge was created early in 2015 to work with Habitat’s 70 affiliates statewide. With the latest project, local citizens would have an opportunity to apply for ownership of a new home to be built in Bertie County by HHNC.

But the potential homeowner must first apply, and the application period for Bertie County is from Sept. 1 (today) through Sept. 15, 2016.

The Bertie County Department of Social Services will help coordinate the recruitment and selection of a homeowner. Final decisions will be made by HHNC.

Following the selection of a homeowner, a group of volunteers will work on the home project, which can be rehabilitating an existing home or a brand-new build. A geographically-appropriate construction site will be determined based on the selection of the homeowner.

Applications will be available at the following locations in Bertie County: State Employees Credit Union office at 46 Grabtown Road; the office of Self Help Credit Union on 302 W. Granville Street; and, Bertie County Social Services located at 110 Jasper Bazemore Avenue, all in Windsor.

Norma Wesson, manager at Self-Help’s Windsor office and a registered Mortgage Broker, said contact has also been made with the faith-based community.

“We want to get the word out to the churches so they can make an announcement as well,” Wesson said.

Habitat for Humanity will offer the homeowner zero-percent financing on the mortgage loan for the house. Qualifying applicants must live or work in the county where the house will be located. The successful applicants must also complete a certain number of required hours of volunteer construction work during the building of the home and attend homeowner education classes.

Two meetings will be held beginning with the first meeting on Sept. 1, and a second, more detailed meeting on Sept. 15 – both at Martin Community College, Bertie Campus at 409 W. Granville Street in Windsor at 6 p.m.

At the August meeting of the Bertie County Commissioners, Chuck Poe, a Dare County-based HHNC representative who spent over 30 years with Community Development, outlined some of the changes going on with Habitat.

“Bertie County is becoming a point of emphasis for us,” Poe said. “This is a real home ownership exercise: people make application, they have a mortgage, they have to qualify; all of the things that are inherent in a real-world mortgage situation. It’s an opportunity to reach down in the median-income level for your county and give people the opportunity to own a home, where otherwise they would not have that opportunity”

Poe said participants in the program must attend first-time home buyer’s classes, and there is ‘sweat-equity’.

“That just means that the potential owner helps in various aspects of developing the home, be it taking care of the lot, cleaning up a dilapidated home we’re going to come in and renovate on their behalf,” Poe stressed.

“We want to prepare people to buy that home and understand the responsibilities,” he noted.

Poe believes the opportunity exists to actually build more than one home in Bertie County.

“There’s $100,000 allocated to each county, and if we’re wise about what we do and we take an educated path, then through that particular effort we might get two or three homes in Bertie County. And that gives three families the opportunity to do something they couldn’t do before,” he said.

If you have questions regarding the application or need more information you can contact Valerie Burrus at: vburrus@habitatnc.org or call (252) 394-5947.

Burrus, a Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-certified housing counselor located in Tyrell County, will work with Bertie people. Bertie is one of three Tier-One counties involved in the program along with Washington, Tyrell, and Martin.

“If they’re having credit problems I can help them amend their credit,” Burrus said in an interview. “I will run the application process, but applicants must meet the income guidelines. Also, we have 502 and 504 USDA loans available. During these meetings, we’ll talk about the criteria: you have to have a qualifying credit score, references, criminal background check and things like that.”

Burrus describes the Sept. 1 meeting as an informal meet-and-greet with Habitat officials.

“During this meeting we’ll tell them the documents they will need to bring to the application meeting (Sept. 15),” Burrus emphasized. “Other options will also be discussed at that time so we can do a screening to find out which applicant will receive the Habitat assistance.”