Web posted
Friday, February 29, 2008
Building a dream
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Courtesy Photo
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Habitat finishes seventh house
By CHRIS ROBINETTE
Traveler Correspondent
Shelter is usually considered one of the most basic human necessities, especially in the harsh winters of Kansas. But not everyone finds a good home easily, and one organization has been working hard to combat that.
Ark City's Habitat for Humanity program will hold an open house on Sunday for a recently completed home. The house will go to Ark City resident Ruthie Meyer and her four children; Seth, Blake, Cheyenne and Hunter.
This is the seventh house the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate has built in Ark City since started in 2000. The recipient families are required to volunteer 300 hours in the construction of the home, which is sold to them at around half the cost of the home's worth.
"They also have sweat equity in the project as well," said Curt Freeland, president of the Habitat for Humanity Board.
A variety of local individuals, organizations and businesses contributed to the project, from Kuhn Mechanical to United Way of Arkansas City. The full list of contributors and a list of all the volunteers, can be seen in a half page advertisement in the Traveler that ran Feb. 26.
Freeland called it a "very broad-based outreach by a lot of folks."
The home will be bought by the family through a 20-year mortgage. The houses are worth around $80,000 to $90,000. The money from the house will go towards the 2008 home.
The houses require a lot of work and man hours.
"It's a fairly good effort every year. (It) takes over five, six months to do it," said Freeland. But he believes the end result is worth the effort.
It "just makes a huge difference, particularly in the lives of the children," he added.
Above: Volunteer Cliff Bazil installs tile in one of the two bathrooms inside Arkansas City's seventh Habitat for Humanity house.
The home is located at 1209 S. Second St. and will belong to Ruthie Meyer and her four children.
The public is invited to an open house from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, March 2. The blessing and dedication of the house with be at 4 pm.
Ark City Habitat was founded in 2000. One tenth of all donations received each year fund the building of a new home for a needy family in Mexico.
Fourteen families and many children - over 25 in Ark City - have directly benefited from Habitat for Humanity.
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