AT&T, Express Personnel, Boldt and RedHawks to Bring ’em Home by Building City’s First-Ever

Movable Habitat for Humanity House

 

Two-Week ‘Blitz Build’ Begins June 19 Outside AT&T Bricktown Ballpark

 

OKLAHOMA CITY, May 31, 2006 — The AT&T Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AT&T Inc.; Express Personnel Services; Boldt Construction; and the Oklahoma RedHawks will team up in mid-June with Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity to build a three-bedroom house in a parking lot outside AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

Local Habitat officials, RedHawks players and volunteers from the sponsoring companies will kick off the Bring ’em Home project June 19 with the start of construction on a 1,050-square-foot house in the parking lot directly east of the ballpark.

The two-week “blitz build” house will be completed July 3 and then moved a few days later to its permanent location in southeastern Oklahoma City. The keys to the new home will be presented to the new homeowner at a special ceremony before the July 4 RedHawks game.

“This is the first time in the Oklahoma City area that we’ve built a Habitat house in one location and moved it to another,” said Ann Felton, chairman/CEO of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity. “This provides a wonderful opportunity to showcase the work we do to help put more Oklahomans into high-quality, affordable housing. Visitors to Bricktown in late June will see an entire house go from foundation to finish in just two weeks.”

 

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This first-of-its-kind project is being funded by donations of $50,000 from the AT&T Foundation and $25,000 from Express Personnel Services. Boldt Construction, which oversaw the building of AT&T Bricktown Ballpark, is contributing its engineering expertise to the project.

“I can think of no better way to celebrate our nation’s birthday and the American can-do spirit than by highlighting an organization that provides safe and affordable housing for deserving families,” said Don Cain, president of AT&T Oklahoma. “We’re excited to be a part of this very important and worthwhile project.”

“Express Personnel Services believes passionately in caring about the communities in which we live and work,” said Bob Funk, founder, chairman and CEO of Express Personnel Services. “Our support of the Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity reinforces our commitment to Oklahoma City to help deserving people achieve the dream of homeownership.”

“We appreciate the opportunity to be involved with an organization like Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity and to be affiliated with a project that will help the organization reach out to more Oklahomans,” said state Sen. Scott Pruitt, general managing partner of the Oklahoma RedHawks. “Through its great work, Habitat exemplifies the compassion and concern that we in Oklahoma have for our fellow citizens.”

“At Boldt, we’re in the business of building, but rarely do we get a chance to be involved in the building of something that so dramatically impacts the life of one family,” said Jerry Ennis, president of Boldt Construction, Southern Operations. “We feel privileged to be able to lend our name and our employees to this worthwhile project.”

Habitat’s Felton said that at the July 4 RedHawks game, Habitat officials and the participating sponsors will present the keys to the new home to Stefanie Cravens, a single mother with two young children. Cravens has worked in the Reynolds Ford personnel department since 1998.

“I would love to be able to raise my children in a home that can be kept cool in the summer and warm in the winter and that’s in a safe neighborhood, where guns and drugs are not around,” Cravens said.

RedHawks fans, visitors to the construction site and Habitat supporters will have a chance to contribute to Habitat’s next home-building project. Donations can be made by logging onto www.CentralOklahomaHabitat.org.

 

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Members of the Bricktown Association have agreed to provide food and drinks to the volunteer workers during the project.

Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity is part of an international, nonprofit, nondenominational Christian housing ministry, which provides zero-interest mortgage loans to qualified hard-working lower-income families.

“Our philosophy is ‘a hand up,’” said Habitat’s Felton. “Habitat offers a true partnership arrangement by which families in the lower-income ranges can attain their goals of homeownership.”

This year, Central Oklahoma Habitat will complete 52 homes located across the Oklahoma City metro area. In June 2006, the organization will dedicate its 400th house completed since 1990.

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For more information, contact:                    

Laurie Gore

Oklahoma RedHawks

(405) 218-1000, ext. 301

                                                                        

Andy Morgan

AT&T Oklahoma

(405) 291-2758

 

Linda Haneborg

Express Services

(800) 635-1608

 

Brad Thomas

Boldt Construction

(405) 752-5885

 

Ann Felton

Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity

(405) 826-4212

 

 

About the AT&T Foundation

The new AT&T Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AT&T Inc., supports programs that build communities and improve access to information technologies, technology training and professional skills development. The new AT&T Foundation will provide more than $60 million in 2006 in charitable contributions, thereby placing it among the top five largest corporate foundations in the country. The new AT&T Foundation combines more than 40 years and $1.7 billion of philanthropic commitment to communities across the country.

 

  

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About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is one of the world's largest telecommunications holding companies and is the largest in the United States. Operating globally under the AT&T brand, AT&T companies are recognized as the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to business and as leading U.S. providers of high speed DSL Internet, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. AT&T Inc. holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider with 55.8 million wireless customers. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and AT&T products and services is available at www.att.com.

 

About Express Personnel Services

With 30 locations statewide and 540 offices internationally, Oklahoma City-based Express Personnel Services' client base extends through four countries and employs 325,000 people annually. Company sales totaled $1.55 billion in 2005. Express provides expertise in temporary staffing/evaluation and direct hire; contract and executive recruiting and placement; and customized human resource services.

 

Oscar J. Boldt Construction

Oscar J. Boldt Construction has been serving the Oklahoma City community for over 20 years. With involvement in healthcare, industrial, education, recreational, commercial, aviation, and automotive, Boldt serves its customers through design/build, construction management, general contracting, and equipment installation and maintenance. With 13 locations nationwide and over 2,000 employees, Boldt’s has an annual revenue that exceeds $550 million.

 

The Oklahoma RedHawks are the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Dedicated to providing great entertainment options to the community, the RedHawks offer exciting attractions including the Triple-A Championship Game, Bedlam baseball, the Big XII tournament, a number of concerts and  winter snow tubing. The RedHawks have the highest rate of attendance among entertainment venues in the state, and their home stadium, AT&T Bricktown Ballpark, is considered a gem among minor league ballparks in the country.