WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Commemorative Habitat House Goes Up

Commemorative Habitat House Goes Up

By Wendy Suares
wsuares@wlbt.net

Metro Jackson's Habitat For Humanity has built 22 homes for evacuees since Hurricane Katrina struck nearly one year ago. They're marking the anniversary with a special commemorative build on Dewitt Street.

Michael Williams has no problem getting his hands dirty working with volunteers to build the home he and his family will soon move into. It was almost a year ago Hurricane Katrina forced them from their new Orleans home.

"Oh new Orleans," Williams says. "I couldn't explain it. It was terrible." The family evacuated their home in Ninth Ward and rode out the storm in the Superdome. Their experiences there were so traumatic, they say they knew they could never return, deciding to make Jackson their new home.

It's a dream come true for 23 evacuee families this past year thanks to Metro Jackson's Habitat For Humanity. "Seeing the joy turn into hope.... It's just been a wonderful blessing to help those families," says Executive Director Cindy Griffin.

By Tuesday afternoon, the house was just about ready for siding on the exterior and shingles on the roof. It's hard to imagine less than 24 hours before, it was nothing more than a foundation.

Brad Eskildsen is among a dozen volunteers who've come from Corona, California to build the home from the ground up in just a few days. Habitat organizations there raised the $51,000 for building materials. Volunteers then paid their own way to Jackson, where they say they couldn't be happier. "It's been great," says Eskildsen. "The Mississippi people are fabulous, very nice. They've made us feel very welcome."

And welcomed most by the family who will soon call this house a home. After a year of uncertainty, they now have a place to start again. "It is a new start," says Williams. "It's a new start, because we lost everything in New Orleans."

Volunteers from the Metro Jackson Habitat will do another commemorative build next week in Bay St. Louis.