Families moving into Indiana homes Jimmy Carter helped build

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) - Kaniece Davidovic placed three chairs and a pumpkin on the front porch of a two-story house that, a couple months ago, was swarmed by volunteers.

On that warm, muggy August week, this turf at Byrkit Street and Jefferson Boulevard was the domain of 2,000 volunteers - among them, country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood - who'd come to help erect a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood.

Davidovic and her two kids are among the first ones to call it theirs.

"It feels great," said Davidovic, whose story The Tribune told in August. She'd lost her 21-year-old daughter to an act of violence last November, after that daughter had applied for this Habitat house for her mom. "I can't believe it's mine. I can't believe I did it."

So far, new owners have signed no-interest mortgages on the first several of the 23 homes at the site of the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, where the Carters also toiled.

Jim Williams, president and CEO of the Habitat affiliate in St. Joseph County, said he texted Brooks and cheered at him during Brooks' recent concert in the chilly stands of Notre Dame Stadium.

The goal, now, is the same as it was in August: To finalize mortgages on a total of 16 homes by Christmas - and the rest by the end of February, Williams said.

More volunteers are needed to reach that goal, though, said Andy Place Sr., one of the work site managers.

"A lot of people think they're done," said Place, an owner of the local Place Builders. "Well, it's not done."

Habitat officials had figured on working on the homes through the fall, but now Place said they're trying to "catch up." Some of the homes are still just a shell, while most all of the landscaping is done. Volunteers of all skill levels, he said, are needed to help with floors, siding, cleanup, painting and other tasks. Licensed contractors are needed for certain tasks. Some of the work so far has been to correct volunteer work that wasn't up to par, "which we pretty much expected," he said.

About 50 volunteers work at the site each weekend, mostly locals.

Mayor Dave Wood has returned a few times - and even brought a crew of Marian High School students last week for landscaping - to finish work that he and other city officials did on the same house where Brooks and Yearwood had labored.

Habitat recently decided to build a pocket park for the neighborhood, thanks to a donor, and officials are exploring what it should look like, Williams said.

Habitat also hopes to name streets after Brooks and Yearwood in Phase II of the neighborhood, which may take another two to three years to unfold, Williams said. He's hoping the singers can return to work on that. The charity first needs to raise dollars so that it can continue building at the site, which has 17 vacant lots to fill, plus 40 more lots on seven acres to the south. Habitat plans to sell some of those lots.

While houses need to be finished, Williams said, new homeowners still need to put in more sweat equity - the required hours of service - and save up for down payments.

Davidovic was moving her last box earlier this month from her west-side South Bend apartment. Her kids started at their new school recently. They are waving at fellow Habitat families whom they've gotten to know over the past few months.

"I enjoy watching people move in," she said.

__

Source: South Bend Tribune

___

Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com