Edwin and Lori Stanton were driving by a rural Iredell County, N.C., housing development about six miles from their rented home when they noticed an advertisement for affordable housing. “We decided we’d give them a call,” he says. The Stantons had discovered the Wesley Community Development Corp., a program of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. Wesley CDC, which targets people who earn less than 80 percent of the median income for their area, helps them qualify for grants or low-interest loans that will permit them to construct homes in developments where the CDC has purchased lots. The homes, selected from among a series of energy-efficient designs approved by the CDC, are built using volunteer work teams from local churches and “sweat equity” from the future homeowners themselves, which helps minimize construction costs. The Duke Endowment has supported Wesley CDC, formerly known as Rural Affordable Housing, for several years, through grants to the conference and grants to individual United Methodist churches working with the CDC to build homes. Although a ministry of the United Methodist Church, the program is open to any prospective homeowner who meets the financial qualifications, regardless of religious affiliation. Ed Stanton, who is dis-abled with cancer, says his continuing high medical bills made him worry whether he and his wife could afford house payments. After working with Wesley CDC, they were surprised and pleased to learn that not only could they qualify for a low-interest loan, but “our mortgage is less than we were paying for rent,” he says. The Stantons moved into their newly built home – the first they have owned since their marriage — on July 31. “It’s given us a sense of peace,” he says. | 
