Plantronics and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Sponsor New Habitat for Humanity Home

SANTA CRUZ — Plantronics and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk have committed $75,000 to sponsor the construction of a Habitat for Humanity home in Los Esteros Court, a new affordable housing development in the Live Oak neighborhood of Santa Cruz. The new 3-bedroom, energy-efficient home will be built by next summer. Habitat still seeks sponsors for six additional homes to be completed in phases over the next three years.

Earlier this year Habitat’s Executive Director David Foster approached Boardwalk President Charles Canfield with a request to be a lead sponsor in Los Esteros. The Boardwalk had provided a previous grant to help purchase land for a Habitat project on Harbor Drive. This time Mr. Canfield took his commitment to Habitat one step further by inviting Ken Kannappan, CEO of Plantronics, to join the Boardwalk in sponsoring a home.

Ken Kannappan, CEO of Plantronics, was eager to join the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, “Habitat for Humanity’s vision of creating a world where everyone has a place to live is inspiring and we thank them for providing an opportunity for Plantronics to give back to our community.  We are honored to partner with the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in helping one family realize their dream of home ownership.  Our associates are eager to roll up their sleeves and help with the construction at Los Esteros Court.”

“Santa Cruz is a great place to live and work, but entering the housing market can be a real challenge,” said Boardwalk President Charles Canfield.  “I’m impressed with Habitat’s program to build affordable homes, and I encourage other local businesses to get involved. Plantronics really stepped up to the plate and we’re excited to work with them to build an affordable home for a local family.”

Employees from Plantronics and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk will also be invited to join Habitat volunteers and others, working shoulder-to-shoulder to help construct the new energy-efficient home to be built with solar panels and to green standards. The goal is for the home to be near net-zero energy efficiency.

Representatives from each company will join the newly selected Habitat homeowners at a public wall-raising ceremony on Thursday, October 9, 2014 at 4:00pm.

Habitat’s Family Selection Committee is currently qualifying applicants for the first two homes. Selected families will work alongside volunteers in the construction process to satisfy their 500- hour sweat equity requirement. All Habitat families must be low-income, are selected based on need, and purchase the completed homes with 0% interest loans provided by Habitat. This is the 40^th affordable home to be built by Habitat in Santa Cruz County.