A ground breaking celebration was held Sunday afternoon for the third Habitat for Humanity home in DeKalb County.
Committee and Board members of Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County and the new partner family, Kim McCowan and her three grandchildren gathered for the brief ceremony at the future site of the home on Hayes Street in Smithville.
McCowan says she and the children look forward to one day calling this location their home. “We’re just proud to be here today. We’re thankful and feel really blessed to be picked as the Habitat Partner family. Me and the girls are very grateful. McCowan’s grandchildren, who will be living there with her are eight year old Haley, eleven year old Carrie, and thirteen year old Katelyn”
Tom Janney, President of Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County, says construction will soon begin..”Our next step is to get our construction plans together and make sure Kim has all her choices in place as to what she would like to have in the house. Then we’ve just got to get our construction schedule going and line up all the volunteers that we need to get everything constructed. I believe the house is about 1200 square feet, something along those lines. It’s three bedrooms and one and a half baths. We hope to be done by early summer or late spring. We may be sending out an appeal for volunteers and or the usual funding stuff but we’re really excited to get it going. This is a very deserving family. They’re in the process of working all their sweat equity. They have to put in their own time on this and get all their requirements in place before we can start construction. We do have sufficient funds to get it underway. We may need a little bit more to cap it off. We may have a fund drive later this spring, but for the most part, we should have what we need in place. We are moving our Restore (from Miller Road) out on Highway 70 near DeKalb Market. We’re hoping to get that up and running again to get more money flowing in. We have as many as five lots so over the next several years we’d like to do as many as five homes. We’re just trying to keep our momentum going and keep moving forward.”
During Sunday’s ground breaking ceremony, Janney made welcoming remarks and introduced the partner family. McCowan and her grandchildren read scripture from Psalm 145: 3-7; Matthew 5:13-14, and Matthew 7:24-29.
Minister Larry Green offered the Prayers of Blessings; Minister Michael Carpenter, the Responsive Reading based on Psalm 118:19-29; and Minister Larry Steffee, the Lord’s prayer and closing prayer.
This is the third Habitat home in DeKalb County. The other two, completed within the last three years, are located on Adams Street.
To qualify, applicants must: (1) have lived in DeKalb County for at least one year; (2) be willing to partner with Habitat to realize dreams of home ownership; (3) currently occupy inadequate or substandard housing; (4) demonstrate the ability to pay a mortgage; and (5) fall within Habitat’s income guidelines.
All applications will be reviewed and considered by Habitat’s Family Selection Committee before a partner family is selected. The partner family will work with Habitat on construction of their home and to develop the skills necessary for successful home ownership. Construction labor is provided by Habitat volunteers, and some materials are donated by Habitat supporters, as well.
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