On November 4, the PMHS Habitat for Humanity club took part in a Walk For Homes. The event began in front of St. Augustine’s Church in Larchmont, New York at 1pm. Students from all over Westchester, including Briarcliff, Eastchester, and New Rochelle, also joined in the fundraiser. The Fuller Center for Housing created this fundraiser seventeen years ago to raise money by sponsoring a walk-a-thon for homeless people in our communities.

Students were handed bright neon shirts and words of encouragement as they embarked on their walk through Manor Park, and the village of Larchmont, ultimately returning to the church.

“There are 100,000 homeless families, kids, living in shelters in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. There is a disconnect between what we hear and what’s happening, and we are in a crisis of affordable housing,” organizer and head of New Rochelle Restore Jim Killoran said.

Killoran’s passion motivated the group as they set forward on their walk. Killoran also emphasized how meaningful and worthy the Pelham community is.

“Poverty should be ended in your lifetime. If everyone who said they cared… volunteered once a month, everybody would have a home in New York, eliminating poverty in housing. All human development starts with home and that’s what today is about.”

Walk for Homes is the organization’s major advocacy event to bring attention to the issue of substandard and poverty housing in Westchester County.

“I think, especially living in a pretty rich county like Westchester, it’s an eye opener to be around other people and be reminded that not everybody is as fortunate as we are,” Fuller Center for Housing advocate and Habitat for Humanity employee Vaughn Folkert said.