Home is 39th for local Habitat for Humanity
With song, prayer and home-cooked refreshments, Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity will dedicate its 39th volunteer-built home at 2 p.m. July 27 at 1338 Grand Blvd. in Aurora. The public is invited.
The Rev. Jeff Barrett, executive director of Aurora-based Fox Valley Habitat, will lead the brief service. A public open house will follow.
The ceremony culminates two months of work by more than 100 volunteers on Thursdays and Saturdays to complete the frame ranch-style structure.
The future homeowner-Auroran Teresa Craft and her twin 17-year-old daughters, Amanda and Samantha, will receive keys to the home and a family bible at the program.
In addition to Barrett, speakers will include Craft and Ron Kelso, project chairman for Community Christian Church of Naperville, project sponsor. Several pastors from the church will lead prayers.
Community Christian supplied volunteer labor and pledged $35,000 toward the $100,000 project.
The Crafts partnered with Fox Valley Habitat in rehabbing a former Habitat home since May.
"The Craft family has been working on her sweat-equity requirement of 500 volunteer hours of service," Rev. Barrett said. "She and her daughters enthusiastically seek ways to continue to partner with Habitat.
"Mother and daughters work weekly on their own home. Additionally, they attend Habitat workshops and events to help complete their sweat-equity hours."
According to Rev. Barrett, the Crafts will vacate a rental home they have occupied for about 20 years. The family occupies the first floor of a multi-unit home, with two small bedrooms and one bathroom.
After sharing a bedroom since childhood, the twins are looking forward to having more personal space, Rev. Barrett said. Community Christian Church of Naperville is a 5,000-member congregation with 10 other sites in Montgomery and Yorkville.
Richard's Building Supply of Oswego provided materials at a discount. GFI Heating & Cooling of Aurora supplied furnace and air conditioning installation and materials. Painters and Allied Trade Unions donated drywall finishing work.
Founded in 1989, Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity is an Aurora-based ecumenical Christian ministry that welcomes to its work all people dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Fox Valley Habitat has built 38 houses in Aurora and Montgomery, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 150 people. For information, call (630) 859-3333 or visit www.foxvalleyhabitat.org.