Ed Smith retiring from Decatur Habitat for Humanity

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - After nearly a decade serving as the Decatur Habitat for Humanity Executive Director, Ed Smith is hanging up his hammer.

"When I started, we were in a donated office down at Heritage Behavioral Center," Smith said. "One of the things when they hired me was they wanted me to find a building and move the offices and start a restore and so, in the last 9 years, we've started this store and our offices have moved here."

Decatur's Habitat for Humanity fins, renovates, and builds homes for those in need, giving them a 30-year mortgage with no interest.

"When I started here we had 44 mortgages and as of today we have 17." Smith added, "Of those mortgages, all of them but one have paid off their home."

The former Deputy Chief of Police with DPD only has one regret during his time with the non-profit.

"We built 5 homes while I was here, so we've got 70 homes we've built so far," Smith said. "We've got 3 we're working on right now, 3 that are fairly close to being done, so I kind of regret that I didn't get that done, but, you know, you do the best you can."

Even once his toolbox is in the shed for good, Smith hopes Habitat continues to do important work in Decatur.

"I'm hoping Habitat continues to grow," Smith beamed. "I've always seen this as hopefully one of the premier charitable organizations in our community. It does really great work and there's such a need for housing in this community."

Smith officially retires at the turn of the year.