When Brandon Price answers the phone, his voice is low and kind. He doesn't announce himself or even offer up his title as CEO for the Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity. He asks how he can help and says he's pretty sure he can be of assistance.
His team says he answers the phone like this a lot and that he's a "great guy." Price started working at Habitat and became CEO about three years after he began. Now, after COVID-19 and years of the lack of events for most non-profits, Price and the members at Habitat are ready to host a large event. They are ready, he says, to get the community involved and to give back.
This time around, they'll bring the team-making, talent-building skills of Roy Williams, Hall of Fame former coach for UNC-Chapel Hill to the table. Coach Williams will do a presentation over lunch and a Q&A during Homecourt: A Conversation with Coach Roy Williams on June 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event, hosted at Fayetteville State University, will take place at Felton J. Capel Arena and be a venue where the audience can interact with Williams.
"He's really going to open himself up," said Price. "We aren't collecting questions in advance. He's going to answer questions [post presentation] like a post-game interview."
Williams, like Price and others, will focus on "the importance of a good home."
For Price, this is a beautiful tie-in for Habitat for Humanity and for Fayetteville. The average home cost in the Fayetteville area is around $250,000, according to Price.
"That means you have to earn a household income greater than $80,000. Do you want to live somewhere safe and affordable? Yes, you do."
Price says that to do so, home buyers have to look in certain zip codes and often those zip codes come with a price tag. Often, he says, the organization assists teachers, fire fighters, EMS workers and more individuals in public servant career fields.
"People who need affordable housing are not your impoverished community.
These are hard-working
individuals ... where we live shouldn't change life expectancy, but it does."
This is a subject that seems deeply personal to Price. He says the entire goal of the organization is to bring awareness to the need for affordable housing. The upcoming event will hopefully raise money for Construction Campus where Habitat workers will be teaching youth multiple trades.
"We want to spark something in them," he says. "We want to get younger individuals in the trades. It contributes to housing affordability."
The housing market, Price says, is losing that apprenticeship as many of the skilled trade workers are reaching beyond 60 years old. The young worker isn't looking into trades as a viable option for income or a career.
"A plumber makes just as much as the average district attorney ... or more. Those are the facts," Price says. "They don't see it as a first-tier option."
Coach Williams will be available to the public for about one and a half hours during the June 27 event. Tickets are $125 each and include lunch and a commeorative t-shirt. They can be purchased at https://www.fayettevillenchabitat.org/homecourt.
Williams will be able, Price hopes, to shed light on how people can get the best out of their teams and how homes play a factor in the lives of the athletes Williams has gotten to train and mentor.
After the event, Price invites the public to stick around and learn more about Habitat and how to get involved. For a lot of people, he says, they think Habitat for Humanity gives away homes. Typically, the organization helps secure a mortgage with a low interest rate for its buyers.
By building the homes themselves, Price says they can pass along these savings to the buyers. Anyone can sign up and volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. Price says multiple times he hopes more people do.
"It contributes to the building of our future ... We build homes. We don't build houses."

(Photos-Top: Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity will be hosting Coach Roy Williams, former UNC-Chapel Hill coach, for Homecourt: A Conversation with Coach Roy Williams on June 27. Bottom: Volunteers for the Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity help build a home. Habitat for Humanity helps those who need affordable housing. Photos courtesy of Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity)