Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County (Habitat Ventura) marked a milestone on Saturday, May 16 at its annual Hearts & Hammers Dinner and Auction, held at the Museum of Ventura County in Ventura. The evening brought together more than 140 supporters, sponsors, and community members to celebrate the organization's 40th anniversary and raise funds for its homeownership and home repair programs throughout Ventura County.

Expressed through the theme, There’s No Place Like Home, guests were invited to follow the yellow brick road through an evening of dinner, drinks, live music, and an auction. The heart of the evening was a short film tracing 40 years of Habitat Ventura's history through the people who built it.

The film told the story of Charles Henderson, an Oak View man who lived on $3,600 a year selling vegetables from a wheelbarrow and donated three buildable lots to Habitat Ventura in the early 1990s, a gift that launched the organization's first home and set everything that followed in motion. Also featured was Connie “Tie” Gutierrez, now a Thousand Oaks city council member, whose family purchased a Habitat Ventura home as a child and credited that stability with changing the trajectory of her family for generations.

"All these houses that came were birthed by that first relationship with Charles," said Virgil Nelson, co-founder, Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County. "Here's a guy living on $3,600 a year, giving us three buildable lots. That small beginning immediately within a year opened up an incredible number of doors."

The event was emceed by Celina Zacarias, director of community and government relations for California State University Channel Islands and commissioner for the Port of Hueneme. The evening was made possible through the generous support of presenting sponsor Adept Fasteners, diamond sponsor U.S. Bank, and a broad community of sponsors, noted below, committed to expanding access to safe, stable housing in Ventura County.

"An evening like this reminds us that Habitat has always been built on the generosity of people who believe in something bigger than themselves," said Darcy Taylor, CEO, during the evening. "Charles Henderson proved that 40 years ago, and everyone here tonight is proving it again."

Proceeds from Hearts & Hammers support Habitat Ventura's Homeownership Program, which partners with local, low-income families based on need, ability to pay an affordable mortgage, and commitment to participating in the building process, and its Home Repair Program, which helps existing homeowners improve the safety, accessibility, and longevity of their homes.

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