NEK Habitat Completes First Full House
NEK Habitat completed a successful 2012 building season with the dedication on November 28th of the home of Blaine and Diane Roy on Thaddeus Stevens Road in Danville. The three bedroom home was built on the foundation of the Roys’ home which was destroyed in a fire in February. With a grant from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, a donation from Passumpsic Savings Bank, and generous local fundraising, the home was built in just 18 weeks. Over 50 different volunteers came to the site on Saturdays to make it possible, under the supervision of Chris Fournier of Concord, our site supervisor.
In February we learned that the home had earned a Home Energy Rating Score of 49 from Efficiency Vermont, earning us financial incentives and a 5-Star Certificate.
Diane and Blaine and sons Jacob and BJ moved into their home for Thanksgiving. They will continue as Habitat partners helping us build homes for others. The new home was financed with a 15-year, zero interest loan.
Brush with Kindness Program Completes Six Projects
In addition to completing our first full home, NEK Habitat also undertook six smaller projects during 2012. In the spring a roof was replaced on a mobile home in Lyndonville, along with several other improvements, and we returned to a home in West Danville to help a couple add storm windows and paint to their older home. We also added a ramp to a mobile home in St. Johnsbury Center for a recent amputee.
During much of the summer, we worked on a home in Albany, VT. The homeowner had been a client of Habitat back in 1997, but we recently learned that he was not living in the home and that the work done in 1997 had not held up. Under the leadership of the Mathew 24:40 Project of the Newport Church of God, we re-leveled the house and put it on solid footings, repaired floors and a bathroom, repaired and installed windows and doors, and added a new porch and stairs. Sadly, the gentleman passed away six weeks after being moved into the home; however, his wife will continue to live in the home.
With a generous gift from an anonymous donor, we arranged for power for two homes in East Haven, one by bringing power in from a new pole, and one by bringing in electric power from a solar panel. We had worked on one of the homes before to build a woodshed for the family. Now they have electricity!
Finally, last fall, with help from the Barnet Presbyterian Church, we made several repairs and supplied appliances to a mobile home in St. Johnsbury Center.
All Brush with Kindness projects are completed – as with full homes – by giving homeowners a no-interest loan.
