Tenesha Artis has been dreaming of homeownership for years, and the mother of three couldn’t contain her smile at the Wilson Area Habitat for Humanity’s March 1 groundbreaking.
Then COVID-19 hit, delaying much of the preliminary work and affecting the nonprofit’s fundraising.
“April through June are usually our big months for events and donations,” said Executive Director Suzanne Coker Craig. “At The ReStore, March and April are our biggest months, so we lost thousands in revenue that needed to go into Tenesha’s house. We had the roast planned of Betty McCain that a lot of people were really excited about, and we’d planned to do some sort of event to target a younger audience this summer, but that is not happening.”
Ken Jones, construction committee chairman, said the pandemic affected contractors’ work.
“Some contractors didn’t have enough people to work, and we got delayed on some things,” he said. “We had to clear the land and dig trenches for the foundation. And there was a big delay from the foundation to when framing started.”
Jones said he left it to the contractors to decide if they could work safely with small crews of volunteers — including Artis, her teenagers as well as her sister and brother-in-law — getting to work on Saturdays in June.
“I ride by the house just about every day. It was at a standstill for a few weeks after the foundation was done,” Artis said. “I didn’t know how long it would take to move on to the next phase, but I knew that it would happen eventually. This process has been teaching me how to be patient and trust the process.”
It may not look like it from the curb, but Jones estimates 40% of the house is complete. He has a list of roughly 30 volunteers ready to pick up a hammer and pitch in with the construction, which is expected to be finished by Dec. 1. Craig said as donations have slowed, staff has worked to minimize expenditures.
“If people want to help, they can pitch in like buying the siding for the house, which was a BB&T Lighthouse Project for the last house,” Jones said. “They could help with the cost of the flooring or buy the kitchen sink and other components needed in the house, so we don’t have to pay for them.”
Artis is required to complete 200 hours of sweat equity and will obtain a mortgage on the house before receiving the keys.
“My favorite part so far is being on site, knowing what the next step will be and helping with the building process,” she said.
Craig said supporters can help in other ways as well such as volunteering in the office, promoting the organization through social media, shopping or donating to the ReStore.
“We’re not quite ready to take volunteers at the store, but hopefully very soon. We don’t want a bunch of people in the store yet,” she said. “Laura Holt, our store manager, did a fantastic job managing expenses and doing online sales with curbside pickup before opening the store to a couple masked customers by appointments. We had to stop pickup of donations entirely, and that is where a lot of our donations come from, but we were still getting a lot of donations as people straightened their houses during the lockdown.”
Donations were carefully disinfected before being put on the sales floor. Craig said she hopes fundraising will pick up. The organization would like to build at least one new home each year, but it’s unclear when applications for the next house will be accepted.
“The reality is many people are out of work, and with the economy as it is, it is hard to fundraise. With businesses struggling, it is hard to ask,” she said. “It is a tough time for nonprofits.”
Wilson’s Habitat board would like to increase the organization’s capacity, building multiple houses a year.
“In order to build two, three or four houses a year like Goldsboro, we have to have a lot of support from businesses and contractors,” Craig said. “You can’t do that just on individual donations and most of the contractors on a small scale live for every bit of work they get, especially right now.”
A Place To Call Home
This is the ninth installment in a series of stories as the Times follows Wilson Area Habitat for Humanity’s two newest homeowners. Christina McMillion received the keys to her new home in January and work has begun on a home for Tenesha Artis. To donate, volunteer or learn more about Wilson Area Habitat for Humanity, visit www.wilsonhabitat.org/.
2020-07-02 22:15:00Z
http://wakeweekly.com/stories/pandemic-puts-crunch-on-next-habitat-house,211549
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