The Playhouse Project aims to teach children the pride and joy of homeownership while giving community members the chance to blitz build a house all in one day.

Close to 250 people will gather on Saturday, December 4, to assemble and decorate playhouses to be given to the children of Habitat homeowners as a Christmas present. Each playhouse will be built and catered to each child receiving it. Teams have creative freedom to decorate the houses in whatever theme they wish. Four out of five Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the tri-county area are coming together in this joint fundraising event that is sponsored by Lowes Home in Improvement. Dorchester Habitat for Humanity’s Development Director Moriah Hollander shares what makes this event unique.

“The best part will be unveiling the playhouses at the end of the day to the children and their families who can meet and thank the builders in person,” she said.

Volunteering to build with Habitat for Humanity can be a great team building effort; this event aims to take that sense of comradery to a new level by allowing teams to complete an entire house in one day and meet the ‘homeowner’ they built for.

“Many of the children are not told that they are receiving a playhouse until right before so it’s a big surprise to be part of,” Hollander shared.

Lowes Home Improvement has historically partnered with Lowcountry Habitat affiliates through Women Build and their Hero Program that allows employees to give back to the community. This year Lowes Heroes are putting their construction skills to use building the playhouse kits that will be assembled on build day.

“This is too good not to be part of,” Lowes Manager, Ronald Thompson said. “Getting to play Santa for kids who might never receive a gift like this is why we love partnering with Habitat.”

 Children are selected for each playhouse through an application with each affiliate participating: Charleston, Dorchester, East Cooper and Habitat for Humanity of Berkeley County.

 Each playhouse is $3,000 and sponsoring teams of six to 12 volunteers sign up with each affiliate individually. The Playhouse Project is modeled after a fundraiser by Habitat for Humanity in Maumee Valley Ohio.

The goal is to have 20 teams building at the Lowes Distribution warehouse on Daniel’s Island on December 4th. Lowes trucks will work in tandem with box trucks from Habitat ReStores to help deliver the houses to each family’s home after the build.