With hammers clattering, power drills whirring, and lumber clunking into place, passing by the home of Phyllis McCroskey last fall would have been a noisy, but joyful event.
Throughout the fall and early winter, McCroskey’s home was undergoing critical repairs at the hands of Fayetteville’s branch of Habitat for Humanity, a national faith-based nonprofit organization that provides construction services for those in need.
McCroskey, a veteran of the U.S. Army who served 13 years, was the 2025 recipient of Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity’s Veterans Build, a program that brings together community members and a herd of volunteers to repair the homes of local veterans and make our community stronger—and more loved—in the process.
A Life in Service
McCroskey joined the Army in 1981, a time when military service was difficult for women—especially Black women. She told CityView that she encountered fellow service members and higher-up leadership who didn’t think women should be allowed to serve at all.
Nevertheless, McCroskey persisted and successfully served for over a decade. Following her military service, McCroskey began to volunteer for Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity in 1993. She told CityView that her passion for community service began with her mother, a beacon of volunteer work and community engagement throughout her childhood.
“She volunteered at a lot of stuff. So that kind of trickled down to her children,” McCroskey said, a tenderness in her voice. “We’d volunteer, or we’d adopt a family, or we’d do stuff for the Salvation Army. It’s always been a part of me and my other siblings to do the same thing.”
McCroskey is also a master gardener. With her green thumb and attentive care, she has worked throughout Cumberland County, teaching classes with the N.C. Cooperative Extension’s Cumberland County Center, giving lectures at libraries throughout the city, and working in the garden at the North Carolina Veterans Home off Ramsey Street prior to its closing in early 2024.
McCloskey said she often shares the fruits of her labor in the garden with community members, neighbors, and the folks at the Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity. She recalls, with a chuckle, giving them advice about their less-than-thriving office plants.
Veterans Helping Veterans
Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity CEO Brandon Price told CityView that the organization has been participating in the Veterans Build program for about the last five years, and that the program is just one aspect of a larger critical home repairs branch of their mission.
“During the month of November, where we honor our veterans,” Price said, “we always choose a veteran who is deserving of certain home repairs, and we raise money. It’s veterans helping veterans.”
To qualify for the Veterans Build program, recipients must own their home, McCroskey said, and go through a lengthy and thorough application process.
Price told CityView that often, the materials and labor for critical home repairs, like in McCroskey’s case, are all sponsored, donated, or funded through partnerships, meaning veterans like McCroskey can receive repairs that they may otherwise not be able to afford.
The length and depth of the application process gave McCroskey reservations about asking for help. Price noted that McCroskey’s giving spirit also gave her pause.
“‘I really don’t want to take from someone else,’” Price recalls McCroskey saying. He remembers her saying she was just happy to be serving her community.
“She’s just going to give you everything she has, and that’s why it made too much sense for us to step in and help.” Price said.
One thing is certain about Phyllis McCroskey—she is a giver, not a taker.
Her devotion to community service runs deep and led her to volunteer for previous Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity builds. On one particular build in 2023, it was anything but a normal day. Three days earlier, McCroskey suffered an accidental fall into a tank buried beneath her yard that landed her in the emergency room. When she spoke with Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity staff members, who urged her to stay home and recover from her frightening experience, she told them no.
“‘I told y’all I was coming, so I’m here,’” McCroskey recalls saying. Dedicated to serving her community and persisting through hardship, again McCroskey persisted.
During that build in 2023, she was convinced to apply for the Veterans Build program, despite her apprehension. Following a year-long wait for approval of her application, work was able to begin on McCroskey’s home last fall.
Getting to Work
Rick Callaway, Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity’s critical home repair specialist, told CityView that the team of volunteers, clad in their matching red T-shirts, was able to complete several badly needed home repairs, including electrical work and structural repairs to the home and deck—something McCroskey was afraid would fall through. They also poured new septic tank covers, fixed a rotted and badly compromised chimney that was allowing water to seep into the house, and weatherized her home to prevent any further damage from our frequent North Carolina storm systems.
Kelly Rodriguez, Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity’s director of volunteer services for the organization and a veteran herself, said that being able to support and serve the community, much like McCroskey, Callaway, and over 52,000 other veterans in Cumberland County did during military service, has been a rewarding experience.
“This has been one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received,” Rodriguez said of the work with Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity.
Price, calling on the organization’s faith-based roots, told CityView that they strive to uphold lessons learned in that faith.
“We just try to be the hands and feet of Christ in the housing arena,” he said. “Because we believe that everybody, every hardworking citizen of our community deserves a safe and affordable place to call home.”
Phyllis McCroskey, a pillar of community service in our city, had to be told to sit down and let others serve her during the build on her home. She said it was difficult, but that she was grateful to the community, neighbors, and longtime friends who showed up for her. Through her own work, her frequent stops into the Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity office just to chat, and her unwavering commitment to persist through hardships and help others, she has hand-crafted a community where she feels supported.
“Not just supported,” McCroskey corrected, her sweet voice carrying through the air. “Loved and accepted and cared for.”
Read CityView Magazine’s “The Love Issue” February 2026 e-edition here.
