Wednesday, November 22, 2000

Local churches pool efforts, dedicate Habitat for Humanity house

By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
SallieS@Juno.com

Because of the vision of two Peachtree City churches, and contributions of labor and supplies by hundreds of strangers, Thanksgiving will have a new meaning this year for a family in Henry County.

Raymond and Tina Scott, who have been living with their brood of seven in a tiny trailer in Locust Grove, will move into their brand new four-bedroom house in Stockbridge in time for turkey and cranberries.

At 1,350 square feet, it is not a large house. But to the Scotts, it is a mansion.

Their mansion.

The house on Greenwood Drive in the Swan Lake subdivision rose like a miracle on a spacious wooded lot, thanks to a Habitat for Humanity collaboration between Holy Trinity Catholic Church and Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran.

On a Saturday earlier this month, the house was dedicated and blessed about six weeks ahead of schedule and well under budget.

Nearly all the work was done on the nine Saturdays from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4 from grading, to framing, to siding and windows, to roof and porches, to paint and trim, even the landscaping by volunteers, most of them unskilled.

By the close of the very first day of work, workers had accomplished what was projected for week three. The season's dry weather helped: An extra Saturday, built into the schedule in case of rain, was not needed.

Saturday afternoon, Nov. 11, leaders, volunteers and the Scotts, who had worked side by side with the volunteers, came together one last time.

Dr. Richard Bell, president of Southern Crescent Habitat For Humanity, welcomed those gathered, and remarked that while Habitat had begun the year 2000 with no plans for building in Henry County, by the end of the year, it will have completed three homes.

"There's a fine line between faith and foolishness," Bell laughed, noting that the two churches had built on faith. He presented the congregations and key leaders in the project with golden hammers, symbolic of their achievement.

Mary Ann Cox, whose telephone call to Miriam Beecher last spring set the project in motion, gave the Scotts a new Bible for their home.

Raymond Scott, an electrician's apprentice who said he had never spoken in public before, expressed with simple eloquence the appreciation of his family to those who had labored to build them a home. A letter composed by his family was framed and resting on the brand-new kitchen counter. It read, in part, "Words cannot express our thanks and gratitude. We feel that we have been blessed in so many ways. And from start to finish we have met the most incredible people who give so much to others. Thanks to all of you, we now have a place to call home."

The Scotts, whose children range in age from Raymond Jr., 17, down to 4-month-old Christian, had been living in a small, rented furnished trailer. What little furnishings they owned were in storage out of state until they could find a permanent home. Those belongings were stolen.

The Scotts' new house was finished not a moment too soon. Several weeks ago, the trailer and the furniture in it were sold out from under them, and they moved into an even smaller, leaky trailer with a family of three.

Apart from some dishes and linens, a TV set and their clothes, it appeared that the house on Greenwood Drive would still be empty when the family moved in.

Nonetheless, on the day of the dedication, the Scott girls Ashleigh, 13, Johnnie, 11, Lindsey, 10, Tuesday, 7 were eagerly showing visitors their new rooms. They would share bedrooms, two to a room, while Raymond Jr. and little Terry, 3, would have their own.

Each bedroom has wide closets and the same dark green wall-to-wall carpet that covers the living areas of the house. One of the girls' rooms has been painted with fluffy clouds on pale sky-blue walls.

On the very day that Cox learned that the Scotts had virtually nothing, she received a telephone call from a relief agency in Fayette County that knows the Catholics often hear of families in need: They had a girl's bedroom set with two beds and two dressers for which they had no storage space. Did Cox have a place for it immediately?

Did she ever. Beecher turned up a sofa and love seat for the living room, and little by little, the house was being furnished. It already contained a new refrigerator, an electric stove and a washer. The kitchen floor is black and white vinyl, and the two bathrooms have white ceramic tile with black accents.

Over the still-empty dining space in the kitchen hangs a shiny brass-and-glass chandelier. A table and chairs, large enough for a family of nine but compact enough to fit in limited space, will be her biggest challenge, Cox thinks.

Both churches customarily put up Christmas trees trimmed with the names of needy children, so Cox and Beecher have every confidence that the family's holiday will be a happy one. A good used computer has already fulfilled a wish for the girls, and Cox is confident that someone will find a desk to hold it.

After the miracle of the house on Greenwood Drive, the coming together of two churches to build on faith, the outpouring of labor and materials for a family that began as strangers and became friends, furnishings are minor concerns.

Beecher said there were many small blessings along the way, citing the camaraderie that has developed between her congregation and the Catholics, and their eagerness to do it again "in the not too distant future." The Lutheran pastor noted too that the neighbors on Greenwood Drive, at first cool and distant, became engaged by the activity on their street and began offering water, lending yard tools, even stringing electric cords until the site had its own power.

"And we came in under budget!" she marveled. The overage pooled by the congregations for this build will form a "partner fund" for the next.

As Dr. Bell said on dedication day, noting the cooperation between the two churches, "A Habitat build is what heaven's going to look like."

Greg Creighton from Holy Trinity and Rod Barkow from Christ Our Shepherd, both builders, provided the expertise for the Habitat for Humanity project their congregations completed. They directed a small army more than 100 workers the first week alone in every phase of construction.

Al Creighton, Clara Reed and Jan Hudson fed this army each week. Larry Gray coordinated volunteers, and Dianne and Denny Baas registered them and monitored safety. Bobbye Hager provided internal publicity.

Ivonne Borland-Reid of the Southern Crescent Habitat For Humanity, based in Jonesboro, coordinated permits, plans and material provisions. SCHFH is responsible for Henry, Fayette and Clayton counties.

Sponsors from the three counties who contributed labor and/or materials include Floors by April, Trinity Air, Fitzgerald Plumbing, Premier Electric, Williams Bros., James Rainey, Residential Concerns, Wallpaper, Windows & More, Pfeifer Co., and 31-W.

And ecclesiastical support came from pastors John Walsh and Kevin Peek of Holy Trinity, along with pastors John Weber and Miriam Beecher from Christ Our Shepherd. The clerics supplied both muscle and spiritual encouragement as the project continued.

Mary Ann Cox, director of religious education at the Catholic church, first sparked the project last spring when she called Beecher, the Lutherans' associate pastor. This was the first Habitat build either congregation has done.

There has never been a Habitat project in Fayette County, she says, less because there is no need than because land is so valuable here and building restrictions hard to accommodate. Habitat requires that a lot be given free and clear for them to sponsor construction. Additionally, houses are built from standardized plans too small to comply with most Fayette zoning laws.

While both churches are eager to build a complete house again, Cox says that Habitat for Humanity also occasionally does major house repairs and renovations for families in need, a project that might be more "doable" in Fayette County. "If anyone knows of a family whose house needs repairs, a roof or furnace, or a room added, where there's financial need, the county would not object to that," she said.

To contribute donations or household furnishings, or to suggest a family that might be eligible for Habitat's assistance, phone Cox at 770-487-0175, extension 228.

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