By Kristin McDonald
Photography by Hubert Schriebl
Habitat CrewThis past fall Happy Valley on Lewis Road in Rupert got a little happier. It used to be that to visit the George Lewis family there, you'd go to the 1970s-era mobile home in the middle of the bucolic dairy farm land that has been in the Lewis family for 13 generations. But now that home has been gutted and in its place is a bright, open, much larger stick-built raised ranch with plenty of space for the Lewis's: George, Kelli, son Tyler, 20, and daughter Savannah, 15. "The trailer was home," says Kelli, "but as the kids got bigger, we wanted more space. We wanted more for ourselves as well. We prayed for years for our longtime dream of a new house. But on the salary of a dairy farmer and my job as an elementary school paraprofessional, it wasn't going to happen." Until the day that Kelli saw the flier at church seeking applicants for Habitat for Humanity.
On the other side of Route 7, the Jenks family in Winhall also called an aging trailer home for 13 years. But it was small, also from the ‘70s and therefore not considered safe by modern code standards for wiring. And in the winter it was cold. A wood stove warmed two of the rooms-the kitchen and living room-but not the bedrooms. "The bedrooms were freeeezing," says 10-year-old son Daniel. "The number one thing is now we're warm. My parents were concerned about me and my brother. They wanted us to be warm." The Jenks are both self-employed: Brian is a logger, and Christine owns a hair salon. "We went to banks for a loan for a new house, just a simple home," says Christine, "and they kept saying no." And now, because Christine saw a Habitat ad in a local paper, the Jenks family-Brian, Christine, and sons Ryan, 19, and Daniel-have a new house with a great room in the middle to accommodate the guests they love to have around, and a woodstove in the cellar that heats the whole house.
Although Habitat for Humanity International was founded in 1977, Habitat's work in Vermont is relatively new, having begun in the mid-1980s. By the end of 2005, Vermont affiliates had built 107 homes. The Bennington Area Habitat for Humanity Affiliate was established in 1997 and has completed eight homes, including one totally renovated home and seven new homes. So far that's about one per year, but the Board of Directors recently established a goal to try to double that. "We have a big county," says Richard Malley, president of the Bennington Area Habitat board of directors, "but we've previously only built in the southern part. It's good to be up here in the north." He says achieving two projects a year, one in the northern and one in the southern part of the county, will keep volunteers and donors energized and involved. They are currently looking at a property in East Dorset, where they want to build a duplex. "That would be a first for us," he says. "Helping two families under one roof." The need for more truly affordable housing is great, says Malley, but the challenge is to think about how to create affordable housing and still maintain the state's beauty.
The first step in the Habitat process is to acquire land, and that is often the biggest challenge because land is so expensive. Two of the properties on which the affiliate has built were donated. In the cases above, the Habitat families already owned the land. Next, a family must be selected. Family income must fall between thirty and sixty percent of the median income for Bennington County, says Malley. "They can't make too much or too little. They will pay an interest-free mortgage to us for the next twenty to thirty years. These mortgage payments help Habitat build more homes in Vermont for other hard-working families."
Habitat provides for a basic house-not more than 1.5 baths and three bedrooms. They don't finish the basement-families can do that, as well as other improvements, later as they are able. Donations of services and skilled labor are an important part of a Habitat build; no financial help comes from Habitat International. The actual cost of building supplies and the value of donated materials and professional services increase with inflation and currently run close to $85,000. The local affiliate is responsible for raising funds from the community, and has received very generous support from individuals, congregations, businesses, service organizations, foundations and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. In addition, the affiliate organizes fundraising activities, including raffles and an annual auction.
