Work to continue next week on Habitat build

By Stephanie Nelson (Contact) | Andalusia Star-News

Published Monday, November 23, 2009

Following the beginning of Friday’s building blitz, the Saturday work at Andalusia’s Habitat for Humanity site has the project “right where we need to be,” said Dale Pancake, Covington County HFH president, Monday.

At the conclusion of Friday, there were concerns rain would either push back or halt the remainder of the weekend’s work. Luckily, the rain held off.

“It was astounding,” Pancake said. “Someone must have some connections upstairs. It was forecasted to be awful. It sprinkled a little, but then cleared. It was beautiful working conditions.”

Beautiful enough, Pancake said, to allow the structure to be fully dried in, with a newly-shingled roof, windows and doors installed and wiring pulled.

The site is the future home of Bessie Marshall, who will occupy the four bedroom-two bathroom home with her daughter, Terri Townsend, and grandchildren, Jacard Townsend, an Andalusia High School sophomore, and 9-year-old twins, Iana and Ian Smith.

It is the second Habitat home constructed in the county; the first was located in Opp.

Pancake said a “good number” of volunteers turned out for the day’s build.

“Like I said before, Andalusia has been very good to Habitat,” he said. “On Saturday, we had the guys from Ft. Rucker come out and help shingle the roof. We had some high school folks who came and got all the windows and doors installed. We are where we are where we need to be as far as construction goes.

“The framing is done in eaves and soffit, so essentially it’s ready for the vinyl siding,” he said. “The inside – we’ve got most wiring pulled, the outlets installed and the foundation plumbing in. All that’s left is to install is the vinyl, the slats for the sheetrock in the walls and the ceiling, blow in some insulation and put the landscaping in outside.”

Pancake said those are the main things set to be accomplished Dec. 4 and 5.

“We’re going to skip this coming up weekend because of the Thanksgiving holiday,” he said. “It was too complicated to try and get people together, so we decided to wait.”

It is unknown when the Marshalls will get to move in.

“We have to completely finish the house before we can do the legal closing on it,” he said. “Rules say we have to legally close before the family can move it, so it will be after the first of the year or so before Mrs. Bessie (Marshall) and her family can move in.”

Pancake said there are still plenty of volunteer opportunities for those who wish to help at the job site.

“It’s an amazing difference between Thursday when there was a blank slab to today where there is a dried in house with shingles on,” he said. “It’s been an amazing process.”

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit charitable organization that constructs houses for needy “partner families.” The houses are built from volunteer labor and the families own the house and pay a small mortgage fee, as well as help out with construction.

HFHCC is a 501(c)(3) organization, making donations tax-deductible. Donation checks should be made out to “Habitat for Humanity of Covington County” and sent to Habitat for Humanity of Covington County, P.O. Box 1034, Andalusia, AL 36420. In addition, HFHCC is now putting out a newsletter; to join the mailing list, write to the group’s address.

Those who wish to volunteer during Habitat’s upcoming building should contact the HFHCC office at 222-0827, or e-mail Katie King at kingkatief@gmail.com.