Did you see it? It was gone in a flash, but while it lasted . . . What a night it was!
Just last Saturday evening, neighborhoods all around Davidson lit up the night in a silent and beautiful display of support for affordable housing. It was another record-breaking showing for DHC’s Holidays for Hope & Housing.
Photos won’t do it justice, but here’s some of what I saw on a drive around town that evening:
Think of it—18,000 candles burning bright on the streets of Davidson. It’s a feat of barn-raising dimension:
- Fifty neighbors, representing almost as many neighborhoods, fanned out in early November to deliver order forms to your doorsteps and inboxes.
- This year, nearly 1,200 of you responded to the call, sending in not only your orders for luminaria kits but also generous donations sufficient to fund the day-to-day operations of DHC for almost an entire year.
- Three dozen middle and high school students devoted 24 hours over the course of six schooldays to build the kits that eventually lined your sidewalk.
- Another two dozen students pitched in to assemble and switch on 550 battery-powered luminarias in DHC’s affordable rental communities and at The Pines on Saturday night and returned early Sunday morning to clean them all up and return the candles to us, ready for next year.
From my vantage point in the luminaria vortex, it’s an annual spectacle to behold. And it reaffirms that when we harness the power of community we can do hard things that in turn produce great things.
The initial ingredients that come together to produce affordable housing aren’t at all different (or, frankly, any less expensive) than market-rate development efforts we see in Davidson. We need land and financing. We plan with the community’s input. We choose architects who design safe, attractive, functional living spaces. We navigate the permitting process all the way through to securing certificates of occupancy and deliver shiny keys to new residents.
In Davidson, each of those claimed keys opens a door not merely to a living space, but to public green spaces, a vibrant downtown, and open events that people from other places flock to visit and enjoy. The children who live behind Davidson’s doors have access to top-notch teachers and opportunities to explore and grow in safe spaces. As neighbors we wrap each other in kindness and connection.
Keeping doors like these open, guaranteeing their affordability for generations to come is far from a solitary exercise of ego or the by-product of market dominance.
It is an ongoing act of community willpower.
So, in the wake of last Saturday’s incredible turnout and the results it produced, a sincere thank you from everyone here at DHC.
You put keys in the pockets of people you may never know but who nonetheless share our community and who daily and willingly lock arms with the rest of us to shape life as we know it here in Davidson.
If that’s not the message of the season, I don’t know what is.
Warmest wishes to you and your family on this holiday season and for all that we can do together in 2026!