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A home of they can call their own
The project began in the fall of 2006 with a commitment on these homeowners who pledged to hang in there and see their house building project through, through thick and thin. They worked in rain, cold and summer heat. And on Monday when they got their keys and the go ahead to move in, they even saw a little spring snow. I talked to some of the new homeowners about their experience and what it felt like to own their own home.
Tammy said she and her husband Rob had been renting in Warne and that it was a joy to be moving in to their own home. Another new home owner, Melissa Colbert called the building a "learning experience." She said it felt great learning how to build a house from the ground up. She will be moving in from a rental unit in Murphy, where she and her two sons: Jarrett, 11, and Tray, 17, have been living. She said her son, Jarrett will be moving in with her and start attending Clay County schools, but that Tray, who is a Junior at Murphy, will be staying in Murphy living with his grandmother so he can finish high school there. The hardest part for her was leaving Murphy, where her family and many of her friends are. She said she is going to miss that, although she has made many new friends among the families who have been working together in house raising. For Lee Ann and Chris Chastain and their 19 month old daughter, Bryanna, it is another new beginning. Lee Ann said they have been living with her parents and now they get to live on their own and raise their daughter. Perhaps, the biggest adjustment will not be so much for them as her parents, who won't get to see the baby as much, although Lee Ann said her father will be keeping Bryanna during the day while she works. "They threatened to kidnap the baby," she told me. Lee Ann said when she working building the house she was a stay at home mom. Since her daughter was newly born, Lee Ann wasn't able to work so much on the houses in the beginning, but later she worked on it a lot. "It was hard not knowing how to do things," she said about the beginning. "When we started, I didn't even know how to read a tape measure. But I learned a lot. I learned I could actually build a house." For Cynthia Lundy, Easter week not only brought a new house, but a new husband. She was married on Saturday before Easter, and has not had time enough yet to begin moving in. She said she plans to move in with her new husband, Bill, and her two daughters, Krysta and Emma, this week. There is still some landscaping to do around the homes, but Bill Curns, who oversaw the electrical portion of this house building project, said there was a volunteer group of college students coming from the State of Washington to help with that. What has been Curn's experience? "It's been a blessing to do stuff like this and to help people," he told me.
This first phase of the project has provided homes for seven new families. This week, six other families begin the process of building their new homes. The Hinton Center is in the process of recruiting seven more families who want to own their own homes through this project of self-help. Families interested to contact David Feathers at the Hinton Center (389-8336) to see if they qualify and to get on the list.
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