{"id":218754,"date":"2025-09-11T17:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218754\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T17:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:50:11","slug":"habitat-for-humanity-jfrd-join-forces-to-build-affordable-homes-in-remembrance-of-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218754\/","title":{"rendered":"Habitat for Humanity, JFRD join forces to build affordable homes in remembrance of 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>MAYPORT, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 The sound of buzzing saws and hammering nails filled the air Thursday morning on Mayport Road, where volunteers with Beaches Habitat for Humanity gathered to build the first of 44 affordable homes planned for the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kNAFkD cuqaEv article-text\"><b>RELATED: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/09\/11\/24-years-later-remembering-911-across-northeast-florida\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/09\/11\/24-years-later-remembering-911-across-northeast-florida\/\"><b>24 years later: Remembering 9\/11 across Northeast Florida<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">But this wasn\u2019t just another construction project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In honor of the lives lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, volunteers and members of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department came together to turn tragedy into service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s a tribute to those who lost their lives on 9\/11,\u201d Steve Gilbert, CEO of Beaches Habitat for Humanity, said. \u201cWe are so blessed to have four acres here to build 44 affordable homes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The first home being built will be gifted to a local veteran \u2014 a symbolic gesture on a day that continues to carry deep emotional weight across the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Among those present was Jacksonville Fire Chief Percy Golden II, who said the events of Sept. 11, 2001, left a lasting impression on him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe remember that day. I remember that day vividly when it happened,\u201d Golden said. \u201cMost people who choose this career are about service, and they care about helping people. With my dad being a firefighter, that was all we were taught was service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Golden wasn\u2019t a firefighter at the time of the attacks, but witnessing the courage of first responders running into danger helped solidify his own path into public service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Thursday\u2019s build was part of a nationwide movement to mark 9\/11 through acts of community service \u2014 a way to honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost by giving back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">As volunteers worked together under the Florida sun, their message was simple: We remember. We serve. We build.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Each hammer swing and drilled screw served as both construction and commemoration \u2014 a tangible reminder that even in grief, there is power in unity and hope in action.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAYPORT, Fla. \u2013 The sound of buzzing saws and hammering nails filled the air Thursday morning on Mayport&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[79462,5229,3188,723,7310,77003,31005,119380,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-218754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-9-11","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jacksonville-fire-and-rescue","14":"tag-mayport","15":"tag-september-11th","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115186933711511279","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}