CHAMPAIGN – As an executive with Horizon Hobby, Beverly Huffman organized a service project every year in Mexico to build homes for impoverished families.

She'll put that talent to full-time use as the new executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County.

Huffman started her new job Thursday and participated in the dedication of Habitat's 54th house over the weekend in Rantoul.

Attorney Matt Deering, president of Habitat's board, said Huffman's unique mix of professional experience and passion for affordable housing made her an ideal candidate.

"We're real excited about Beverly. We think her passion just shines through. We are expecting good things," said Deering, who was also a member of the search committee.

Huffman succeeds Eileen Gebbie, who left in June to study for the ministry in Chicago. Patti Darr, who manages Habitat's ReStore home supply store, served as interim director this summer.

A Virginia native, Huffman worked for Horizon for 20 years, in Virginia, California and then Champaign, holding positions in sales, warehouse distribution, customer support and product support, among others.

Most recently, she was director for a new toy division at Horizon, which employs 700 people worldwide. The company decided to shut down that division because of the poor economy, and her job was eliminated last March. She was looking for a new challenge when the Habitat job opened up last spring.

Huffman had played a significant role in a 2007 Habitat home-building project sponsored by Horizon and was familiar with the organization.

"I had a wonderful experience during that time. When I saw that the executive director position was open, I thought it was a great opportunity," said Huffman, a Mahomet resident. "It's exciting to think about using what you've learned in the business world and putting that to use to give back to the community."

Huffman visited Juarez, Mexico, eight years ago on a service trip with her church, Faith United Methodist in Champaign, through a program called Operacion Hogar, or "home." She'd been impressed by the church's youth trips to Appalachia and jumped at the chance for an adult service mission.

"As soon as I got down there and saw what was going on ... it just struck me that Horizon could do this. We could send people down and make a difference there," she said.

Every year a team of 12 to 20 Horizon employees went to Juarez to build concrete-block homes for the poor, digging foundations, mixing concrete and moving blocks by hand.

"I wanted other people to be able to experience what I did," she said, noting that the company emphasizes community outreach.

The work inspired Huffman to help organize Horizon's support for the 2007 Habitat home-build in Urbana, where she often helped out at the building site.

"I loved, loved doing it," she said. "I got to learn how to use power tools."

Habitat is about to break ground on its 55th home Sept. 4, at 1521 W. Healey St., C. Huffman said her overall charge will be to help the organization implement its strategic plan for 2010 to 2015.

"My first goal is just to dig in and see how they do what they do here," Huffman said. "They do a great job."

Deering said the search committee interviewed eight of the 20 applicants for the position, and Huffman was the top choice.

"We are really just thrilled with the quality of people we had available," he said.