THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606060184
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 148 lines
BY THE END OF June, Dorothy Bish and her three grown children will move into a brand new $42,000 house on the shady side of Carver Avenue, a stone's throw from Seatack Elementary School and nearly a mile's stroll to the beach.
The one-story frame structure, with three bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, central air conditioning, gas heat and a front porch, is the product of many hands working under the banner of South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity Inc.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, 20-year-old, worldwide organization that provides interest-free homes for low-income families and individuals and has been at work in this area since 1988.
The Carver Avenue house, now nearing completion, is the second Habitat project to get under way in Virginia Beach this year. The other is a duplex going up on 16th Street, only several blocks west of the Oceanfront.
The projects are the third and fourth undertaken in the city for the local Habitat organization in the last two or three years. The first two were built by students at the Virginia Beach Vocational and Technical Center, says Sylvia M. Hallock, executive director of the local Habitat office. Three more are slated for construction next year under different sponsorships.
Bish, who works for a Navy child development center in Norfolk, and her children, Ken, 21, David 20 and Kendra, 17, are to occupy their new house by the end of the month.
For the past five years they have lived in Plaza Apartments.
Bish said they can overhear the shriek of sirens, and the sound of gunfire is not uncommon. ``I come from New Jersey, but this is the first time I've heard gunshots,'' said Bish, who had lived in Boston, New York and North Carolina, before moving to Virginia Beach.
Nevertheless the Beach was a good choice in Bish's mind. ``I felt this area would be best for my family,'' she said.''
So far, that decision seems to have been a wise one. Her youngsters are intelligent and ambitious. Ken graduated from Princess Anne High School and is a junior at Old Dominion University, where he is a business major. David spent one year in college; he now works for the Circuit City Outlet in Virginia Beach and plans to return to ODU. Kendra is completing her junior year at Princess Anne High School and last week took the Scholastic Aptitude Test in preparation for moving on to college next year.
``I have an older son in business who moved to Detroit,'' said Bish. ``I think I've been blessed.''
The grunt work on the Bish's new home is being done mostly by volunteers who are members of Virginia Beach United Methodist Church, an Oceanfront institution with 2,500 members.
The project was first suggested in 1993 by congregation member Mark Day, then a Navy chief stationed at the Atlantic Fleet Combat Training Center at Dam Neck, said assistant pastor Clark Mandigo.
``He got excited about it and asked if the church would be willing to do it. It started out as a vision of two or three people and it's kind of taken on a life of its own now, as you can see.''
Getting volunteers to work on the Habitat project was never a problem, said church volunteer coordinator Judy Garner, who quickly compiled a list of 50, including 10 non-congregation members.
Heading that list were Jay White, an electrical engineer and one of two Habitat project engineers; contractor Les Thorpe, construction foreman at the Carver Avenue site and architect John Hodges, who is charged with rounding up building materials.
``Basically we try to solicit as many donations as possible,'' explained Hodges. ``What we cannot get people to give, there are standing agreements with a lot of the major suppliers here in Tidewater to basically sell the materials for cost or for just enough to cover their overhead.''
Brick, cinder block, concrete, lumber, electrical, plumbing and mechanical supplies were either donated to the project or given at cost, said Hodges.
A local framing crew donated a day's time to set the trusses, sheath the roof. All the electrical work is being done by the Virginian Beach Vocational and Technical students, working under the supervision of teacher Bob Shanks.
``That's a real good thing for the kids, because it gives them some hands-on experience out in the field,'' said Hodges.
The same students are installing electrical service at the 16th Street Habitat project.
Landscaping at the Carver Avenue home site will be done by volunteers, using mostly donated plants and materials, once the house is completed and the concrete walkway and driveway have been installed, said Hodges.
The Bishes, who were selected from about 20 families who applied for the new house, also have to contribute 400 hours of ``sweat equity'' in their new house, hauling lumber or wielding hammers and saws with the rest of the volunteers and skilled workers.
``Sweat equity'' is required of prospective home owners under Habitat for Humanity rules, Garner explained.
Once the home is built and ready for occupancy it does not come free to new residents, said Hallock. They must make installment payments of roughly $400 a month until building construction and property are paid off. Mortgage payments then will be recycled to build more houses.
Since it was founded in 1988, South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity Inc. has been responsible for building 28 homes for low income families, said Hallock. The first was built in 1990 in the Prentiss Park section of Portsmouth. So far 15 have been constructed in Norfolk, six in Portsmouth; three in Suffolk; two in Chesapeake and two in Virginia Beach, not counting the two under way now.
Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller, a self-made millionaire builder, who has his headquarters in Americus, Ga. The organization has its roots in Fuller's three-year sojourn in the poverty ridden African nation of Zaire in the mid-1970s. There, despite labor problems, material shortages and dwindling funds, he oversaw the creation of an 100-home development. The monthly payments of homeowners went into a revolving fund to finance the construction of more houses, a concept later adopted for Habitat programs.
Fuller returned to the United States in 1976 with the intent of forming a worldwide organization to eliminate poverty housing. He established headquarters in Americus and, with the help of former President Jimmy Carter, Habi tat for Humanity began to grow bigger and bigger.
In 1995, Fuller estimated, Habitat had built 12,000 houses - 4,000 in the United States and 8,000 elsewhere in the world. Habitat was rated fifth among the world's largest builders that year by ``Professional Builder'' magazine, a statistic based on housing starts. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Jay White, above, an electrical engineer is one of two Habitat
project engineers. Also heading up a list of 10 non-congregation
members of the project are contractor Les Thorpe, who is
construction foreman at the Carver Avenue site; and architect John
Hodges, who is charged with rounding up building materials.
Charlie Earley, left, and Les Thorpe, right, volunteer members of
the Habitat for Humanity crew, help Ken Bish build his own family's
house.
ON THE COVER: Earley, left, Thorpe, Frank Bowden and Townley Wolfe
join in the effort by more than 50 volunteers, mostly members of
Virginia Beach United Methodist Church, an Oceanfront institution
with 2,500 members.
John Carbone works on the inside of the Carver Avenue project. A
local framing crew donated a day's time to set the trusses and
sheath the roof. And all the electrical work is being done by
students from the Virginia Beach Vocational and Technical Center.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Dorothy Bish and her children, Ken, 21; Kendra, 17; and David, 20,
will occupy the house on Carver Avenue. ``I think I've been
blessed,'' she says.
Ken Bish contributes some of the family's 400 hours of ``sweat
equity'' by hauling lumber or wielding hammers and saws with the
rest of the volunteers and skilled workers. ``Sweat equity'' is
required of prospective home owners under Habitat for Humanity
rules. Once the home is ready for occupancy, the owner must
installment payments of roughly $400 a month until building
construction and property are paid off.
KEYWORDS: HABITAT FOR HUMANITY VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB