CONTACT:  ED LOPEZ                                                                            
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TEL. 603-883-0295                                                                                       
EMAIL: office@nashuahabitat.org

Nashua – Earlier this year Lisa Goulet approached Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity with a proposal: to donate 10% of her personal real estate sales commissions to the organization. All Habitat for Humanity had to do: accept the donations and let others know that this contribution possibility existed.

Not only did Habitat for Humanity accept the offer, they quickly recruited Goulet to join them at the next Board of Directors meeting. A few months after the initial meeting, Goulet now serves as the Chairman of the organization’s Site Selection Committee and is on the cusp of joining said Board of Directors herself.

The responsibilities Goulet accepted came with significant challenges: as Site Selection Committee Chairman, Goulet was tasked with the responsibility of helping the organization find a suitable lot in Milford for two families whose home construction project was postponed on account of a discovery that their lot was a wetlands area. How soon these two families are able to move forward with the help of Habitat for Humanity volunteers depends largely on Goulet’s leadership in the Site Selection Committee. Her real estate experience and her commitment to charity and non-profit work should help.

Lisa Goulet’s expertise in real estate work is rooted in over 15 years of experience in residential home-building and in having owned and operated construction firms in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Nashua, New Hampshire.In addition to her real estate and philanthropic experience, Goulet has also studied acting at the Media Performance Institute in Boston, Massachusetts and has been featured in films and both print and television commercials. The diversity of her experiences impressed Nashua Habitat for Humanity’s leaders.

Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity President Ed Lopez was impressed with Goulet’s professionalism and her determination when they first met. “When Lisa came forward with her proposal her professionalism and determination really impressed us. We knew we needed her on our team.” 

Goulet, for her part, saw it as an opportunity to serve her community and serve in a Christian capacity. “My determination to serve and to give 10% of my personal real estate sales commissions to various charities was based on my desire to help the community, to give back, and also as a way to thank God for everything I have been blessed with: I feel very fortunate to be where I am, for the success I have had in my business endeavors, and for the support and guidance He has given me in life,” says Goulet, while adding that “Habitat for Humanity’s Christian foundation certainly gave me a sense of mission within the organization.”

Goulet makes contributions from these commissions based on the charities or non-profits her customers select – so Habitat for Humanity is not the only beneficiary of her contributions, several other area organizations benefit from her willingness to make the donation.

Lisa Goulet is now preparing to join the Board of Directors at Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity, which will hold its annual meeting this coming October.

Goulet says “I’m prepared to meet the challenges that come with work at Habitat for Humanity; it doesn’t diminish the many business obligations I have, or the commitments I have made to help other non-profits and charities – it all comes with the territory of the obligation and sense of gratitude I feel toward God. I feel Habitat for Humanity is a good fit for me in terms of doing a bit more because my real estate experience lends itself to the organization’s urgent needs.”

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.  Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call the Habitat for Humanity office at 603-883-0295 or Ed Lopez at 603.718.8792. For further publicity information email the Public Relations Committee at pr@nashuahabitat.org.

Site for Habitat for Humanity Duplex in Milford May be Wetland

Habitat for Humanity lot on Tonella Road, Milford, New Hampshire. Photo Courtesy of Don Himsel and The Telegraph.

by Hattie Bernstein, The Telegraph

MILFORD – Six months ago, Bob Hughes envisioned celebrating his 32nd birthday on July 23 in his own home, with his wife, Stephanie, and their children, Brianna, 13, and Jordan, 10.  Instead, the family is on the verge of homelessness.

The Hugheses were one of two families selected by Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity to become owners of a Milford duplex the volunteer group planned to build. The other family is currently renting an apartment in town.  The land for the duplex, to be built at 42-44 Tonella Road, was purchased a year ago.  The lot was cleared of debris over the winter. And volunteers, including Hughes, were waiting for the go-ahead from a surveyor who was to tell them the best location to place the house and the septic system.

Families chosen by Habitat must agree to donate 350 hours of “sweat equity” to the construction of their homes, and Hughes, a handyman technician, was itching to get started.

“In April, we started cleaning the lot in Milford,” Hughes said. “Volunteers came once a week.”  When the lot was cleared, the brush pile stood 12 feet high, 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. “It was frozen, and for weeks, we chopped, breaking it into piles, burning it and finally they got the surveyor in,” Hughes said.

That was when the bubble burst.

“We thought the surveyor would come in, get the soil tested and we’d be ready for the foundation,” Hughes said. Instead, the surveyor raised some concerns about wetlands and suggested that the group get another opinion. “The guy who sold Habitat the land told them there was a 25-foot buffer on wetlands, and the rest was buildable,” Hughes said. “What we found out was that it was all wetlands, and there was no place to put a foundation, absolutely no place.”

Recently, Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity issued a press release announcing the Milford construction project had been put on hold because of “discrepancies” in reports from soil and plant experts. But Robert Todd, of Todd Land Use Consultants in New Boston, said Richard Kohler, his certified wetlands scientist, reported tests show “the soil is saturated.” “I surveyed the lot next door two years ago, and I saw a lot of wetlands,” Todd said. “I told Rick to be on the lookout for wetland conditions, to be forewarned.”

It’s a bitter bill for the nonprofit dedicated to building and renovating houses for families who need some help to become homeowners. And it’s worse for the families. The Hughes family has been without a permanent residence for three years.

In 2007, just before Christmas, their Hudson landlord said he was selling his house and gave the family 30 days to move out. They put their belongings in storage and moved to Hughes’ in-laws’ apartment in Milford, planning to save to buy a house. Instead, they encountered more hardship: his mother-in-law lost her job; his father-in-law became seriously ill; and the couple used their savings to help with bills. Realizing they would never get ahead while helping their extended family, the couple moved to the Ann-Marie House in Hudson, a place for families in transition that provides shelter and financial education. The aim of Ann-Marie House is to help families set financial goals and become self-sufficient.

The Hughes were making progress.

Then Hughes’ father-in-law took a turn for the worse, and the family moved back to Milford to help. At one point, there were seven people living in his in-laws’ two-bedroom apartment. Hughes said he learned about the Habitat for Humanity program after he signed up to volunteer: It hadn’t occurred to him that he would qualify.

To be selected for the program, a family must have a low to moderate income and earn enough to pay back the mortgage.

The Hugheses applied and didn’t hear anything. They took a first-time home buyer’s course taught by a former Habitat volunteer. “He put our name on the list. It was one of the first lucky breaks I’ve had in the last three years,” Hughes said of the recommendation that put him in line for one of two homes that were to be built in Milford.

His luck turned bad, again, however, several weeks ago when he learned about the surveyor’s report. Around the same time, his mother-in-law told the family they would have to move in 30 days, since she was buying a mobile home and giving up the apartment. “We have to be out by July 25, and because we don’t have a rental history; it’s hard to get a place,” Hughes said.

Ed Lopez, president of Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity, said he hasn’t thrown in the towel completely. “We want to see if there are alternative solutions,” Lopez said. A town official said experts planned to review the surveys, and Lopez said Milford officials will give the property “a fresh look.” “The market was not the best when we purchased it. It was expensive,” Lopez said of the $105,000 lot, close to the downtown.

But Hughes, who is two weeks from having no roof to put over his family’s head, is perfectly clear about the surveyors’ reports.

He doesn’t expect a miracle.

“In a nutshell, we have nowhere to go … even though we have jobs and a good credit report. We explain the situation, and they say, ‘No.’”

Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 603.673.3100, ext. 24, or hbernstein@cabinet.com.

Courtesy of the Town of Milford.

Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity to Gather Area Churches and Faith Groups to Build Awareness of Milford Building Project