THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200553
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CHRIS KIDDER
CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 81 lines
Pam Spence first heard about Habitat for Humanity when the local group's first house was under construction in 1991.
Spence, a nursing assistant at a nearby extended-care facility, dreamed of owning her own home.
But she spent all her income on raising her two children in a tiny, two-bedroom, rented house with no central heating system. She applied for the next house the group planned to build. She was turned down.
For the working poor, disappointment is nothing new. Being caught between making too much and too little is a way of life. Spence gave up the idea of home ownership and went on with her life.
A year later, she got a call. Habitat had changed the qualification requirements. Was she still interested? Definitely.
Habitat will build a small three-bedroom home for Spence, 34, this fall on Cale Street, in an older, working-class neighborhood full of large shade trees and neatly trimmed yards. Her new home will allow her son, Tyshawn, a first-grader, to have his own room for the first time.
``If it wasn't for Habitat for Humanity, I wouldn't be able to own anything,'' said Spence, who worked as a volunteer on the last house Habitat built and plans to put in as many hours of sweat equity on her own home as she can. She doesn't know much about construction, she admitted, ``but I'll try whatever it takes.''
Spence worked on a house built for Roosevelt and Debra Barcliff and their four children.
The Barcliffs will help build Spence's house. Roosevelt said, ``I'm looking forward to it.''
At the time Roosevelt applied for a Habitat home, the Barcliffs were crowded into a substandard house where winter heat bills often exceeded $1,000. ``It's a good feeling to know you own your own home,'' he said. ``I just love it.''
One of the guiding principles of Habitat for Humanity is that it is not a handout, said Sharon Fairchild, Elizabeth City affiliate president. ``Our homeowners are not charity cases. They're not people without any working skills.''
Habitat families are people who work in low-paying jobs, spending every penny they earn on life's necessities. They can't qualify for conventional mortgages, but they are able to make regular payments, Fairchild said.
Habitat for Humanity International was founded 20 years ago as a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. It currently has 1,500 affiliates reaching all 50 U.S. states and nearly 50 countries. By the end of this year, volunteers will have built more than 50,000 homes worldwide.
The program works in partnership with its participating families to build and renovate simple, decent affordable housing. Families contribute sweat equity on their own houses and other Habitat projects and, in return, are given no-interest loans from Habitat. Their loan payments help finance more houses.
With three houses completed, the Elizabeth City affiliate is struggling to get enough funds to continue building. Finding suitable - and affordable - lots has been a challenge, Fairchild said.
Finding volunteers to manage each construction project from start to finish is another problem.
Habitat had to beg a local contractor - a great guy already overextended with volunteer work, Fairchild said - to take on Spence's house as a weekend project. ``If we had a retired contractor who could work during the week, we could get twice as much done,'' she said.
While local churches do a good job of providing unskilled volunteer labor, Fairchild said, ``we'd love to have more contractors willing to donate time and skills. We need their expertise.
``We need more people to be willing to share some of their own good fortune with other people. That is what Habitat for Humanity is all about.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
CHRIS KIDDER
The Virginian-Pilot
Roosevelt Barcliff, owner of a Habitat for Humanity home, sits on a
porch of one of the most recent homes built by the group.
TO GET INVOLVED
For more information about Habitat for Humanity in Elizabeth City,
write P.O. Box 267, Elizabeth City, N.C. 27909 or call Sharon
Fairchild at 338-6528. by CNB