My name is Cynthia Jenkins.
You want me to spell it?
Cynthia Jenkins Jenkins and I am the CEO of
Southern Crescent Habitat for community.
Cynthia and I guess tell us what happened.
You know what? What big donation
did you guys get and how did you
guys find out about this donation?
Was this something that you guys knew was
coming or was it a complete surprise?
It was a complete surprise several weeks ago.
Had this random email from representatives of
Mackenzie Scott and it was out of the blue.
I had no idea she didn't reveal at
the time who was giving the donation.
She said she had an anonymous donor and
that she wanted to talk to me about it.
And so I scheduled a time and and did a
little research on the person's name and saw
that it was connected to Mackenzie Scott.
And got very excited 'cause
I thought Oh my goodness,
she's been giving away a lot of money
right now to make a huge impact on
the communities and the organizations.
And then I got on the phone with
her and it was very quick.
It was we have done a thorough investigation,
heard about you go all and and admire
the great work that you're doing and
you are one of the habitat affiliates
that we want to award money to and she
gave us the amount the 1.25 million.
And I was shocked.
Very shocked, but very grateful.
And was this amount you know?
I know that only I believe 4 Georgia
affiliates got chosen for this.
So how was how were you guys
chosen and why do you think
you know she picked Atlanta?
And I believe Columbus and as well
as as Southern Crescent community.
Why do you think you guys were
picked and how was that chosen?
There were five affiliates picked in
Georgia that was Atlanta Southern
Crescent, Gwinnett, Columbus,
and Haston County Down near Warner Robins.
And we do not know they are
just based on research.
They told us that they have a.
Process that they say it was secret
and they wouldn't reveal it to us,
but according to just some Internet
research and asking around,
there are a lot of factors that
they took into place considering
impact area leadership.
Productivity and various other things.
And for me this is not knowing all of
the the secret sauce of how they chose.
It is a validation for us and
for our Community that our.
Our organizations were chosen
because we are effective and
impactful at the end of the day.
That's what that means for us.
And how does you know your habitat
planted to use those those funds?
What? What do you guys have planned?
You know with this money?
Well, this is an unexpected.
Large major transformational gift for us.
So we are going to be very purposeful.
You know, we are.
We're not necessarily going to go out
and spend it on the next thing that
comes up and be right back in the same
situation we are discussing with the
board because we were only recently
able to let the board members and
staff know that we received this gift.
And we will come up with a
policy and we will.
Administer this in a very
forward thinking and long term.
Plan and part of this will be a
force to leverage for our capital
campaign that we are still in
the midst of planning and.
Some long term investing so that we can.
Over the life of this make this
1.25 million go farther and matched
up with with other funders who
have the ability to help us meet
the in the great need for housing
in the state of Georgia.
And I know that earlier you mentioned,
you know. I guess the size of your
guyses habitat compared to others.
How I know that you said you've
mentioned something about a
lot of I believe support or
resources going towards the South.
I believe could you talk a little
bit more about that please?
As you know, a lot of development
over the last couple of decades
has gone north of Atlanta.
You know, some of those counties
up there have grown quite a bit,
and now we're at a point where the growth
in the metro Atlanta area is coming
South and out farther into the suburbs
and exurbs of the metro Atlanta area.
So we're in a very unique position that,
while there is still plenty of land
available, we can acquire that.
We can build a little bit more
cheaply still than your inner city
and north of town habitat affiliates,
so this will go a lot,
a lot farther and help a lot more
people because we're able to maximize
the dollars on the South side.
So investing in our affiliate and
others that are serving the Southside
of Atlanta are is the opportunity to
preserve affordable housing in the metro.
Atlanta area.
And you know, for anyone that
doesn't know what counties are
within Southern Crescent of,
you know up your guys is org.
Southern Crescent is Fayette
Clayton and Henry counties.
And you know, Cynthia, you know.
What did I touch on all the points?
Those are all the questions I had,
but I wanted to make sure that you know,
we touched on everything.
Is there anything that I didn't
ask that is worth you know?
And it's important to mention
about this contribution.
This contribution is an amazing gift.
It is the single largest gift we
have received and I do believe
with many of the other affiliates
is their single largest gift.
It is a transformational gift.
It gives us an opportunity to think
much more long term to increase our
productivity and at the end of the day
meet more needs within our Community
because the the need is is enormous
and though this is a large gift.
It really is a building block for.
The greater need that is in our Community,
so this is an opportunity for businesses
and individuals and churches to come
in and add to this building block
in order to answer the question,
what are we going to do about the
affordable housing and workforce
housing crisis in our community?
It is now beginning to affect businesses
who are having a difficult time finding
workers because workers can't find
someplace to live near where they're working.
And Habitat for Humanity is part
of that solution and I would just
encourage our business community,
our church community,
our individuals,
and other organizations to come alongside us.
And this wonderful gift that
Mackenzie Scott has given to make
a difference in their community.