By Sarah Rogers
“You listen to it.
I can’t.”
get a new home.
A single mom with three kids under the age of ten, a modest 2-bedroom
trailer was all Stephanie could afford to
This was a young woman who’d re- house her family. While this provided a
cently applied to Habitat for Humanity roof over their heads, it did not provide
for a new house, so nervous about their the kind of environment Stephanie
answer that she asked her boyfriend to really wanted her kids to grow up in.
Cramped, closed quarters within and
listen to the voicemail for her. A hard
worker who is uncomfortable with ask- a fairly compact neighborhood which
did not leave much room for play and
ing for, much less receiving handouts,
growth. Her kids couldn’t even ride
Stephanie Moore, of Topeka, needed
their bicycles for fear of being in the
to be prompted several times by her
way of cars. While her two boys shared
mother before finally reaching out to
a room, Stephanie’s daughter shared
her local Habitat program. He pressed
the button for her and they listened to her room with her. The kids being so
young, and Stephanie just being thankthe message together, then immediately broke into cheers. Her application ful to have a place to live, there wasn’t
much complaining about their living
had been accepted. She was going to
situation at the time. But her children
were rapidly growing and Stephanie
knew they couldn’t stay where they
were for long. Even with a full-time job,
she couldn’t afford to move somewhere
more spacious, so her mom encouraged
her to contact Habitat for Humanity.
Contrary to what she expected,
it was not an organization that gives
handouts. 125 hours of sweat equity
(Stephanie’s family’s physical investment in Habitat’s work) were required
before construction of her home could
begin in May of 2011, and then Stephanie was expected to be present every
weekend during the building process,
which she was glad to do. She was only
sorry she had to work on weekdays and
miss that part of the construction prostories continued on next page
LaGrange County Habitat for Humanity (LCHFH) is a volunteer organization and they are seeking volunteers
for their upcoming project at 701 N.
Sixth St. in Howe. Habitat welcomes
volunteers and supporters from all
skill levels to join them to help Bill
Dingly and his four children renovate
their home. LCHFH will be working
on Saturdays and through the week.
Workdays will start at 8:00 am and
end at 4:00 pm. There will be one break
in the morning and one break in the
afternoon and lunch will be served at
12 noon, with devotions before lunch.
Further questions may be directed to
Mont Arnold, LCHFH Executive Director, 260-463-8519.
Schedule
September 14, Demolition, (30-35
volunteers); September 17, Demolition, (10-15 volunteers); September 19,
September ‘13 · The Hometown Treasure · pg 23