photo by Leslie Cantu

Jaye Jones Elliott, executive director of Dorchester Habitat for Humanity, stands amid some of the items for sale in the ReStore.

Jaye Jones Elliott can’t stop talking about Dorchester Habitat for Humanity – its mission to put families in their own homes, its growing business at the ReStore and especially its volunteers.

That enthusiasm should serve her well as she leads the non-profit through the recession and toward its 20th anniversary. Elliott took on the executive director job Aug. 16 after the departure of Debbie Krout-Althoff, who returned to Pennsylvania after less than a year on the job.

Krout-Althoff decided it was best for her family to return because she couldn’t sell or rent her home in Pennsylvania in order to buy here and also has some sick family members there, Elliott said. The York affiliate, where she had been director for 12 years, also asked her to return, Elliott said.

Elliott had begun volunteering at Habitat, then joined the board, after moving to Summerville from Bluffton last year so her husband could take a teaching and coaching job at Summerville High School. She previously served on the board of the Hilton Head affiliate.

Before moving to Summerville, Elliott worked as a lawyer. She’s found her legal skills useful in her new position, but working at Habitat is so much more satisfying, she said.  With this new job she’s not just getting paid but she’s helping people and working alongside others who are dedicated to God’s mission, she said.

The Dorchester affiliate already has strong name recognition, Elliott said. But it does need to fight some misperceptions: chiefly, that Habitat gives away houses, she said.  Even some of the non-profit’s own volunteers mistakenly think Habitat provides free housing, said Emily Grooms, the ReStore manager.

Families must have good credit and a source of income to qualify for homes. Habitat targets those who make too much to qualify for government assistance but wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage in the private market, Elliott said. Families must put in 425 “sweat equity” hours before taking possession of their homes, which have 20-year, no-interest mortgages.

Dorchester Habitat built three homes last year and is on track to complete three this year, if the fundraising comes through. Elliott wants to increase the number of homes built each year.

She’d love to get six to eight built in a year, but thinks a realistic goal for now is four to six homes. The non-profit has stopped taking applications because of the limited building budget, she said. Currently five families are approved for homes; one will move into a home soon to be built in Corey Woods.

The group also has to meet its own operational costs. It moved from Old Trolley Road to Greyback Road in Jedburg in 2008 so the ReStore could expand and transform into a more customer-friendly place. But that left it with a mortgage and $36,000 in monthly operational costs, Elliott said.

“Right now it’s a big expense, but we had to incur that,” Elliott said. In the long run the improved store will be worth it, she said. The store sells building supplies as well as furniture, appliances and household goods.

Grooms has big plans for the store. She’s already expanded the donation pickup schedule, and would expand it even further if she could get more volunteer drivers. Volunteers will be building a library within the store where she thinks she might hold monthly or weekly coffees.

Her goal, she said, is to get customers of all backgrounds to think of the ReStore as an option, not just those of limited means. But here, too, Habitat fights a misperception.  People hear “Jedburg” and decide the store is too far away, she said. They don’t realize it’s just outside Summerville and really is closer than Goose Creek, she said.

Elliott’s plans for Habitat look beyond the group itself. She’d like to work with other non-profits in the area to address people’s needs in a holistic manner. Often people who come into the store mention they need help with jobs or other needs. Habitat isn’t set up to help with needs other than housing, but it could refer people to those who could, she said.

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