International Habitat CEO visits Springfield staff

Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford visited with Springfield staffers and members of the community this morning as part of a meet-and-greet event held at the Horton Smith Room at the Courtyard by Marriott on West Kearney Street.

Reckford was in town to celebrate the RV Care-A-Vanners’ 25th anniversary yesterday at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. RV Care-A-Vanners is a volunteer program for travelers in recreational vehicles who want to help build Habitat houses.

Habitat International comprises more than 1,500 local affiliates in the U.S. and more than 70 national organizations worldwide. Combined, the organization has helped to build or repair more than 800,000 houses and served over 4 million people.

Reckford took pictures with volunteers and individually met with many of the roughly 50 attendees as part of the event dubbed Coffee and Conversation with Jonathan.

The CEO told Springfield Business Journal that the local Habitat chapter stands out as having one of the most productive Habitat ReStore resale outlets in the U.S.

“Collectively, we have over 800 stores in the U.S. and Canada, and (they) generated last year over $300 million in revenue while keeping more than 250,000 tons out of landfills,” Reckford said. “It’s a great environmental story and a great social enterprise that helps get more people into houses. And Springfield has one of the highest grossing ReStores in the country for the size of its market.

Angel Field, development associate with Habitat for Humanity Springfield, said the local chapter generated more than $1 million in revenue at the ReStore on South Scenic Avenue in fiscal 2013, which ended June 30. With another $1 million projected in the current fiscal year, the local ReStore revenue is among the top 6 percent of ReStores systemwide. Officials said Habitat has diverted more than 2 million pounds from area landfills.

Beyond building homes for those in need, he said Habitat communities across the country, including Springfield, have in the past five years expanded its focus to include neighborhood revitalization. He said he appreciates the work of local staff as Springfield employees of the nonprofit often wear many different hats.

“I went to Stanford Business School and worked for a bunch of top 100 corporations, and I would say it is actually harder to manage in the nonprofit space because you don’t have the profit levels, you don’t have the stock options and bonuses, so you are appealing to people with a sense of mission,” Reckford said. “Habitat is deceptively complex. If you think about Larry [Peterson, executive director] and his team, they are a construction management team; they are land developers; they are a mortgage bank; they are fundraisers; they are retail operators; and they are a social-services agency doing training, financial literacy and home management with these families.”