New Habitat home dedicated

MAT-SU - Exclaiming "I have a home! I have a home!" Charmienne Harker was presented last week with a symbolic key and a Bible signed by volunteers and well-wishers during the dedication of her new Habitat for Humanity home.

The home, the fourth built in the Valley by Habitat for Humanity Mat-Su, was finished this summer and Charmienne, and her daughters, Tazlina, 8, and Valorie, 14, moved in Wednesday just in time for a camp-style Thanksgiving dinner, according to Elsie Oliver of HFH Mat-Su.

Habitat for Humanity is a worldwide, nonprofit, Christian-based organization that, through donations and volunteers, builds decent, affordable housing for people who don't qualify for a conventional mortgage.

Recipients exchange 500 hours of "sweat equity" for a 20-year, interest-free loan to purchase a new home. The "sweat equity" can be done in the form of labor at their future home or at the HFH office. Each recipient's monthly house payment is applied toward more homes and is proportionately distributed to HFH International and to HFH Mat-Su - therefore, the more families placed in homes, the more homes that can be built.

Two additional families have been selected for homes currently in progress off Bogard Road. Referred to as Charlie One and Charlie Two because of their street location in the Shaws Tri-Lakes subdivision, Charlie One is expected to be completed next summer and Charlie Two is in the foundation stages, according to HFH Mat-Su public relations director Curt Menard.

HFH Mat-Su is accepting applications from people interested in becoming recipients of future Habitat homes. 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.

Photo: Charmienne Harker and her daughters, 8-year-old Tazlina and Valorie Harker, 14, (center) along with volunteers and board members from Habitat for Humanity Mat-Su, cut the ribbon inside their new home on Snow Goose in Wasilla.

Photo by KATHLEEN TESSARO/Frontiersman.