Square Foot Ministry Inc

We can transform the lives of disadvantaged families and children in Griffin through transforming their housing situation. Square Foot Ministry builds and repairs homes, and provides home ownership opportunities for these families. We build safe, healthy and affordable homes so these families can have a stable home environment with ownership in order to reverse the cycle of instability in Griffin families.

This has proven to result in a more thriving environment as evidence by the statistics above and specific examples from current SFM homeowners. This “community transformation” is positively impacting several blighted neighborhoods in Griffin, GA.

Our strategies encompass three areas:

1) Building safe, healthy home for qualified working families who are moving from sub-standard rental conditions. In addition, we offer a zero interest mortgage on the home, so the qualified candidate family become true home owners through paying a mortgage along with taxes and insurance. It is a "hand up" and not a "hand out". These first-time home buyers can then build equity over time which can help break what is often a multi-generational cycle of poverty.

In addition to building home, we nurture our home owners through our community Care group which is facilitated by a few of our board members. The CC group meets regularly to discuss family budgeting, basic home maintenance and other pertinent topics.

2) We also partner with local non-profit organizations that serve these communities and assist them in building or expanding their facilities and capacity to serve.

3) We do home repair for elderly and/or disabled individuals and families who do not have the means to accomplish this on their own. Examples include wheelchairs ramps, fixing a collapsing porch, or retrofitting a bathroom for handicapped access.

Square Foot Ministry was incorporated in 2003 and we have been doing this for 17 years. We mobilize volunteers from local churches, youth groups, businesses and civic organizations to work with us in providing the labor for projects.

Our Executive Director is a former Habitat for humanity board member, and our project manager is a licensed building contractor and former HFH Construction Manager. We also have several people on our board and volunteer base that are in the construction industry.

All project are lead by a Square Foot Ministry representative with knowledge in that specific project. Volunteers are trained in the specific skill for the task and safety guidelines are followed.

We also work closely with several sub-contractors who we employ for any task requiring a specific skill and safety profile such as rough electrical work and plumbing system installation.

In 2019 over 700 people volunteered on Square Foot Ministry projects.

With the help of over 1,500 donors and volunteers, Square Foot Ministry has accomplished the following:

In Griffin GA:
* 15 new houses built providing home ownership for 15 families (mostly single working mothers) in the Fairmont Community (with 6 more planned)
* Compassion House Women’s Shelter built at East Griffin Baptist Church
* Children’s Playpark in Fairmont Community
* Expansion of Abundant Life Soup Kitchen

In Fayetteville GA:
* Building addition to Promise Place (Domestic violence safe house)
* New building for Fayette Counseling Center (Mental health services)
* New building for Pregnancy Resource Center (counseling for women in crisis pregnancy)
* Annual IMPACT youth service week

In other ares:
* 3 homes built for disabled veterans
* 50+ home repair and handicap-access remodeling projects
* 25 homes framed in Pass Christian MS following Hurricane Katrina