Volunteer Members of Methodist Habitat Coalition Will Help Put a Deserving Family Into New Home by Thanksgiving

On July 16, volunteers from The United Methodist Church at Wentzville and four other area United Methodist churches broke ground on a Habitat For Humanity home in St. Peters. If all goes according to schedule, the volunteer members of the Methodist Habitat Coalition will help put a deserving family into a new home by Thanksgiving.

"Without support from groups like the Methodist Coalition, there is no way that we could do what we do," said Andrea Hughes, Habitat For Humanity RE-Store manager for the St. Charles County area. "This is their fourth home. It’s groups like this who care, who want to give back to their community, that make it possible for families to have better lives for generations to come."

Typically, about 15 volunteers come out each Saturday to work on the home. Yesterday, for instance, volunteer workers supervised by a professional construction manager were scheduled to sheet the roof, build a closet and clean the work site. All the volunteers really need is a willingness to work and an ability to take direction.

"Some people do come in with certain skills and expertise, but there are people who come in with no experience at all," said Lauren Grotegeers, a resource development coordinator with Habitat. "But we have our construction supervisors out there, who do help and assist them with what they’re comfortable with."

The volunteers from Wentzville’s Methodist church helped build a Habitat home in Wentzville in 2008. The group also helped build homes in 2009 and 2010 in the same area they are currently working in – the Enclaves at Eisenhower subdivision. The houses built are 1,400 square feet with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an unfinished basement and an attached garage. Since 1997, the not-for-profit Habitat For Humanity has completed 50 new homes in the St. Charles County area, with work on four more houses underway.

"We’re pretty excited about it," Hughes said.

To qualify, home recipients have to have lived in St. Charles County for at least one year and have to currently be in substandard housing, whether due to overcrowding, leaky roofs, mold, fire hazards, or other reasons, or homeless. They also must pitch in to help.

"They have to be willing to partner with Habitat For Humanity, which means put 350 sweat equity hours into their home or other homes, or through the RE-Store," Grotegeers said.

Habitat home recipients get a 30-year, interest-free loan, and they have be within 30 percent to 60 percent of the median income for St. Charles County.

"It’s the working poor," Hughes said. "A lot of our family members have had one devastation or another, either through a medical crisis, a job loss – there has been some significant event in their lives that has created this situation where they need a hand up."

Habitat builds quality homes people can take pride in.

"We’re actually creating simple, decent, affordable homes for people to purchase who couldn’t qualify for a conventional loan," Hughes said. "We do pride ourselves that we are a hand up and not a hand out, and that’s why we require the sweat equity hours."

Habitat offers classes to prepare new homeowners to go from renting to home ownership, because there are differences, Hughes said.

"We not just about saying, ‘Here’s your home, pay us money.’ We want to educate them and truly help them to lead better lives," she said, "not only for them, but for their children, and their children’s children."

The families on the receiving end are "eternally grateful" and shed "lots of tears of joy," Hughes said.

"To see the children of the homeowners go from substandard housing and poor grades and just not doing very well overall, and move into their new homes and physically be healthier and go to school and their grades are improving, it’s quite an amazing thing to witness."