Warren County Habitat for Humanity has been making dreams of homeownership come true for almost 25 years.

In 2015, the nonprofit will celebrate its 25th anniversary in Warren County that began out of a group at First Presbyterian Church called Carpenters for Christ.

They were meager beginnings, local Habitat For Humanity secretary Bob Moss told Port City Kiwanis on Thursday.

“Our fundraising was to pass a hat. It started as a big straw hat, and we couldn’t fill it so to make it better we went to a smaller hat. The board members put in money every time we met. That was the only financing,” Moss said.

In 1990, the Carpenters for Christ Group became an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International.

“They realized they needed a better vehicle to accomplish their goal in the community and they found out about Habitat and created an affiliation loosely but not legally,’ Moss said.

Alfreda Thomas moved into the county’s first Habitat for Humanity home in April 1992, and more than 20 other homes have gone up since.

“She is the first we cycled though and proved that Habitat works,” Moss said.

Habitat for Humanity sells the house at cost to the homeowner through a 20-year mortgage loan, Moss said. He estimated the cost of a Habitat house at $60,000 to $80,000.

“Habitat sells these houses. We don’t give them away,” Moss said.

The only local Habitat for Humanity employee is executive director Abraham Green. Everyone else is a volunteer, Moss said.

The vast majority of properties used for building houses have been donated to the nonprofit, Moss said.