What do Clay Matthews, Lowe’s employees and a future Green Bay homeowner have in common?
They’ve all hammered nails into the same Habitat for Humanity home.
The NFL, Lowe’s and the Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity have partnered to help build affordable housing in the Green Bay area during the draft. It’s about the NFL leaving the city better than it found it, said Jessica Diederich, CEO of Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity.
Volunteers from Lowe’s stores across the state, from Oshkosh to Wauwatosa, came to Green Bay on April 24 to help build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Wearing blue jerseys emblazoned with “Lowe’s 25,” they started adding drywall and siding to three houses, side by side, on the block.
Working alongside them was Packers Hall of Famer Clay Matthews, hair pulled into a bun under his hard hat.
Clay Matthews, Packers Hall of Famer, works on a Habitat for Humanity home on April 24.
“He’ll spend some time on the build site, doing some work and learning about our mission,” Diederich said before Matthews arrived. “Just helping shed more light and exposure on Habitat for Humanity and the work that we do in the community.”
What does the NFL draft have to do with Habitat for Humanity?
Anytime the draft is in a community with a Habitat for Humanity, the NFL and Lowe’s connect with that Habitat organization to set up an opportunity like the Matthews appearance.
The NFL will also donate materials from the stage and draft footprint to Habitat for Humanity to repurpose in its buildings.
“They’re really thoughtful about this entire process and the impact it has on our community,” Diederich said. “By coming in here, they’re leaving a lasting impact, and we’re just happy to be part of it.”
The homes volunteers build are meant for low-income families, but they won’t be given away. Families buy them, but there’s no interest on their mortgage payments, and the families have to help build the homes themselves.
How will this build (and the draft) affect Green Bay?
The three homes Matthews and the volunteers are building are among 15 homes Habitat for Humanity will have constructed by this fall. The volunteer work also serves to highlight the city’s need for affordable housing as home prices rise.
The number of people facing homelessness is at its highest since nearly 2014, and housing assistance was by far the most common request in 2024 that social services organization 211 Wisconsin saw from Brown County residents: 4,630 housing assistance referrals, compared to 1,170 referrals in the next highest category, hunger assistance.
State Sen. Jamie Wall, D-Green Bay, talked at the Habitat for Humanity build on April 24 about how running for office opened his eyes to the need for more affordable housing.
Lowe’s employees volunteer at the Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity build on April 24.
“We’re not Manhattan, we’re not even Madison, but housing has been getting more expensive around here,” Wall said. “It’s getting tougher for people before that first mortgage. It’s getting harder for renters, who see their rents going up with the cost of housing around them.”
But the draft provides an opportunity for programs like Habitat for Humanity to address that. Donations and backing from the NFL make a major difference here: A city the size of Green Bay usually wouldn’t have access to the kinds of resources the NFL can offer, Mayor Eric Genrich said.
Beyond that, it brings people to the city. Now that they’ve seen it, Wall said, they may decide to stick around.
“Life is easy here,” Wall said. “Maybe people see it, maybe they stay. Maybe they raise a family, maybe they start a business, and maybe they build some houses.”
Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at nscharf@gannett.com or on X at @nadiaascharf.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Clay Matthews, volunteers build Habitat for Humanity homes with NFL
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