When I e-mailed Wanda Ellis to tell her she won the January LED Lighting photo submission contest, she sent me back an e-mail that warmed my heart.

Wanda is the Director of Development for the Caldwell County Habitat for Humanity in Lenoir, NC. She explained that the area’s population means the Caldwell County chapter is small compared to some of the other affiliates of the national nonprofit organization. The Caldwell County Habitat traditionally helps move 7 to 9 families from poverty housing each year, she said.

“This is done through a partnership process that enables families to learn, grow, and build while earning sweat equity for their own future home.  It is not just a matter of building houses, but building lives along the way,” she wrote. Here’s the winning entry:

The five Cree LR6 recessed downlights she won will actually be used in the Habitat’s main office, which is undergoing the renovation. Here’s what she wrote on her photo submission:

“Caldwell County Habitat is in process of renovating an “ailing” old building that will house our offices and our ReStore. We’re basically starting from “scratch” on lighting. We need your help!!!!”

The LR6 offers big energy and maintenance savings and a long lifetime. Just how long? Well, the LR6 is designed to last 50,000 hours – that’s five times the life of the best compact fluorescent bulbs. And her new LR6 LED fixtures consume just 10.5 Watts of electricity each and are dimmable to 20 percent. That can add up to real energy savings for an organization that can help more people with each penny it saves.

We’ve already received a lot of good entries for the February LED lighting giveaway. If you’d like to enter, submit a photo of bad lighting in your home or office here.