Making a house feel like a home

Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA -- For most Valley residents, running a hose from the house to the garden and turning it on is an automatic, everyday event. But for Jennifer Wilson, who recently received a new home built by Habitat for Humanity, the water streaming out of the spigot at her new house seemed like a minor miracle at first.

Wilson's new home features running water both cold and hot, a washer, a dryer, a shower and other amenities that, though ordinary creature comforts to most locals, are new privileges to someone moving in from an unequipped rural cabin. These were Wilson's accommodations on Lazy Mountain, where she and her two grandchildren resided prior to her new home's completion.

At the June 29 dedication of the new home, Bob Pickett, director of Habitat for Humanity Mat-Su, commented on the huge amount of effort that went into the process.

"It takes a lot of love and a lot of work, and a lot of donations from the community to build a home like this," he said.

Applicants for Habitat homes need to be lower-income, but nonetheless have an income, be capable of contributing 500 hours of "sweat equity" in construction of the home, and be living in substandard housing.

"We build homes for people who for some reason or another don't meet the requirements for a normal home loan," said Elsie Oliver for Habitat for Humanity Mat-Su.

"Substandard" is rather a kind word for Wilson's living conditions prior to taking up residence in her new Habitat home. A glorified cabin on Lazy Mountain with uneven floors, faulty electrical wiring and no running water or sewer, it proved as trying to Wilson and her two grandsons, Jeremy and Travis, as the pothole-ridden drive to the house was to her car. The place wasn't even all that structurally sound.

"We had that big windstorm blowing through the Valley a couple of years ago, and the house survived that, but then another gust came through and blew a hole right in our roof!" she said. It took some heavy-duty repair time and quite a few pieces of drywall to remedy the problem.

It was clear that something needed to be done about the situation. Fortunately, Wilson received a little help from her friends, one of whom, Nycca Gonsalez, is the recipient of one of Habitat for Humanity's first Valley houses. Seeing her rather sorry living conditions, Wilson's friends insisted that she apply for a Habitat home, even going so far as to carry her application paperwork to the Habitat office for her.

"They jumped right on it," Wilson said. "I was doomed from the word go."

Gonsalez said she provided good-natured badgering to Wilson throughout the application process.

"Almost every time I talked to her, I said 'have you done that application yet?'" Gonsalez remembered. Eventually, she went so far as to chip in the $10 application fee, and soon afterward Wilson had found herself a house.

"There's nobody more deserving of this house than her," Gonsalez said.

The new house is quite a step up from the rough Lazy Mountain cabin. With a strong, solid roof and walls, a good foundation, clean, even floors, and impeccable new wiring, it represents almost the opposite of Wilson's previous dwelling.

"This is a completely different world for me, and I'm ready to enter it," she said. Wilson and her grandsons can move in as soon as the final paperwork goes through.

Perhaps the biggest point of interest for Wilson, however, is her newfound ability to access fresh, clean, heated water at a flick of the wrist.

"To be able to go over to the sink and turn on the water is just absolutely amazing," she said.

In addition to her enthusiasm for the new house, Wilson has some good things to say about the people who built it as well.

"Habitat is an absolutely awesome organization," she said, "it really teaches people the value of patience." Patience was a factor in the building of this particular house, Oliver said, since a shortage of donations stretched out the construction time longer than is usual.

Habitat homes are built using donated labor -- under the supervision of a trained expert -- and materials purchased with donations and income from payments on previous Habitat Homes. The house is then sold with a zero-interest mortgage to the recipient at the cost of the materials. This can often be less than half the cost that the house would normally sell for.

Habitat relies on donations of money and labor from individuals, corporations and faith groups to raise houses around the Valley.

Though donations of raw materials aren't strictly kosher (a measure taken to prevent a generous soul from showing up with a stack of perhaps unneeded ceiling tiles), monetary donations oriented specifically toward a set of windows, doors, carpeting, etc. are encouraged.

The best tools Habitat has at its disposal are the support and backing of the local community. Fortunately, Picket said, these are great assets.

"Without the foundation Habitat for Humanity is built upon, this would not be possible."

Habitat for Humanity Mat-Su's next house, the ninth one to be built in the Valley, is going to get some construction help from a rather eclectic source: a church in Ohio is sending 15 of its parishioners north to Alaska in order to drive screws and pound nails for the effort.

"It's their mission project to go somewhere and work on a house," Oliver said.

Local churches have volunteered to help feed and house the visitors during the first week of August, when they'll be in the state.

"Everybody gets to participate in some way," said Oliver, who also said Habitat would attempt to show the visitors around town during their stay. "We'd like them to get a little bit of vacation as well," she said.

A recipient for the next home, to be located off Pittman Road, has not yet been chosen.

Habitat for Humanity Mat-Su is accepting applications from people interested in partnering to build their own Habitat home.

Applications are available at the office located at 900 N. Hyer Road (in the Double Eagle Real Estate office on Palmer-Wasilla Highway), or by calling 373-7278. Volunteers are also encouraged to call.

Contact Daniel Spoth at daniel.spoth@frontiersman.com.