Nichols Family
500 Lubeck Ave.
PARKERSBURG - Wood County Habitat for Humanity dedicated its 49th home Sunday in south Parkersburg.
Habitat for Humanity is a Christian ministry that builds or renovates homes with lower-income families who are currently living in substandard housing.
Rebecca Nichols, with her husband, Greg, received their Habitat home Sunday in a dedication ceremony at 500 Lubeck Ave. in south Parkersburg.
The home is the 49th built by Wood County Habitat for Humanity in two decades. This year marks the Wood County group's 20th anniversary and will also see the construction and dedication of its 50th home.
Nichols said she and her husband have been involved in Wood County Habitat for Humanity for about 18 months. She applied for the program after hearing positive things from a friend two years before.
After being approved, the couple worked "sweat equity" hours for months, helping at Habitat's ReStore facility and putting in hours on other homes and their own future home. Nichols said she definitely enjoyed working on what would become her own home.
"I learned some things that I will probably need to know later on, where everything's at and such," she said.
"I think Habitat is a wonderful program. I think sometimes people get the misconception that it's just given to you. Habitat doesn't just give you the home, they help you to get a home. You have to pay for it," Nichols said.
Alvin Phillips, executive director for Wood County Habitat for Humanity, said the Nichols home was one of the fastest turnovers in Wood County Habitat's history because it was done differently. Instead of building a home from the ground up, Phillips said Habitat was contacted by Morgan High School in McConnelsville, Ohio, about a home the students had built as a school project. In past years, the homes were sold locally but there were no buyers available this time so the school approached Wood County Habitat, which bought it.
Phillips said Wood County Habitat just had to build a foundation, porch and driveway on the Lubeck Avenue site and then have the pre-built home moved in. Some adjustments and improvements were made and the home was ready for Sunday's dedication less than three months after the last dedication in February.
Morgan High School principal Anita Eldridge and assistant principal Homer Weekley attended Sunday's dedication and thought it was a great program. Eldridge said the students made two trips to Parkersburg to help with some of the final work on the home prior to the dedication.
Weekley said the vocational programs at Morgan have been building a house each year for many years. Most have been sold within the local community but the economic downturn prevented them from finding a buyer for this most recent home. He believes the work with Wood County Habitat has opened a new avenue for the program in the future, possibly selling to other Habitat programs in the area including one which started a few years ago in Morgan County.
"We talked to them (Wood County) about maybe doing another one down here, but I guess some other vocational schools have called so maybe it's opened some doors for them," Weekley said.
In June, Phillips said Wood County Habitat will be hold a Parkersburg Bicentennial Habitat Blitz Build on June 19 and 20 at two properties on 14th Avenue in south Parkersburg. Two foundations and floor systems will be done by that time and beginning on June 19 and ending on June 20, both homes will be under roof, he said.
Approximately 150 area volunteers will be needed each day for the build, he said. It will also involve a group called the "Habitat Road Trip Crazies" who travel around the country on a regular basis to blitz-build homes in two days all over the U.S. The group will be bringing up to 50 additional volunteers. To register, go online to http://www.woodcountyhabitat.org/ or call 304-422-7907.
