Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counties is the 11th largest home builder in the Tampa Bay area and one of the top-producing Habitat affiliates in the nation. This past year, our organization built 73 homes for deserving families in our community. This year, the goal is 80 homes. None of these accomplishments are possible without volunteers.
It takes roughly 1,000 volunteer hours to complete a Habitat home. No one knows more about the work that goes into each home than Tom and Signe (Sigg-nee) Oberhofer. They have been involved with Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counties for 30 years. Their vision is our vision – a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Many of our Habitat families walk into a home that Tom helped build. He has been volunteering on our construction sites since 1993. We estimate that Tom has put in over 30,000 hours working on Habitat homes. His knowledge and experience have been invaluable to our staff. Tom has said that he has gained a new set of skills thanks to one of the Habitat construction team’s core values to teach volunteers what they are doing for the day. Tom is a major advocate for anyone who wants to volunteer to come out and try it, regardless of construction knowledge.
Tom and Signe have also helped sponsor two families’ journeys to homeownership. For the Oberhofers, it is all about building homes, communities, and hope. Habitat is forever grateful for his couple’s impact and generosity on our homeowners, volunteers, and community. Our Habitat affiliate has built over 850 homes in Pinellas and West Pasco Counties. The Oberhofers are a major part of our story and will be forever.
**Please find the awards video we made when we honored the Oberhofers as our 2023 Silver Nail Legacy Award recipients at our Annual Gala event: https://youtu.be/4_TveZ_Titg .