Special to Dorchester Banner/Habitat Choptank
Mid Shore Board of Realtors President /Benson & Mangold agent Sheila Washburn and Long & Foster agent and longtime Habitat volunteer Mike Allison encourage the crowd to vote during the 2015 Guest Bartender event at Masthead at Pier Street.[/caption] OXFORD — Six local celebrities will be pouring, shaking, stirring and entertaining the crowd for a guest bartender night from 5:30-7:30 p.m. this Thursday at the Latitude 38° at 26342 Oxford Road in Oxford. The guest bartenders will each be vying for votes to support their team in a popular design challenge – known as ReImagine ReStore - hosted by Habitat for Humanity Choptank. Six teams competing in ReImagine ReStore on April 23 will have 20 minutes to decorate 10’ x 12’ feet empty spaces using items gleaned from the Habitat Choptank ReStore’s unique and ever-changing inventory of donated furniture and home improvement items. Participating designers may accent their rooms by donating a portion of the decorative items and furniture. At the end of the evening, items in the ‘rooms’ will be available for purchase. Proceeds from the event will benefit Habitat Choptank’s affordable home ownership program. “This event at Latitude 38° is certain to create additional excitement around the 2016 ReImagine ReStore designer challenge,” said Emily Lynn, development officer for Habitat Choptank. “Our celebrity line-up along with the Habitat mission of promoting stability and self-reliance through homeownership are two great reasons to come out and yell ‘Hey Bartender’!” Bartenders for the evening will be Jacob Bryan, Mark McGuire, Kate Koeppen, Traci Jordan, Dormaim Green, and Mike Dillon. Since 1992, Habitat Choptank has empowered 68 working households from Talbot and Dorchester counties to build a better future for themselves through home ownership. Each home buyer contributed 300-400 hours of “sweat equity” in the building of those houses and purchased their home with an affordable mortgage.  While selling its homes to mostly first time and even first generation homebuyers, Habitat Choptank continues to maintain a less than 2 percent foreclosure rate with only one home foreclosed upon over the 24 year history. Currently, seven buyers are working through Habitat’s multi-step program toward the goal of becoming successful home owners. For information about Habitat Choptank, the ReStore or one of these upcoming events, visit www.habitatchoptank.org or call 410-476-3204. To contact the Latitude 38°, call 410-226-5303 or go online to www. latitude38.org.