Affordable housing gurus visit Suffolk, bring money

Huntersville, a small Suffolk neighborhood that has struggled over the years, will enjoy a population boom as families move into 16 Habitat for Humanity houses built this month. Jonathan Reckford, chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International, spent a day at the Suffolk home-building blitz on June 4, meeting with builders and future homeowners. He planned to also visit Habitat for Humanity building blitz sites in Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Richmond in June.

On May 1, Millard D. Fuller, the founder of both Habitat for Humanity International and The Fuller Center for Housing, visited the city just days after a tornado ripped a path across Suffolk. Fuller presented a check for $20,000 to the Suffolk Fuller Center to be used as seed money for the Greater Blessings Program that focused on restoring storm-damaged homes in Suffolk's Burnett's Mill and Sadler Heights neighborhoods.

Hattie Brown Garrow, staff writer, contributed to this report.