First Habitat build in county underway
Submitted by jcht2010 on
By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
After years of trying, and even almost giving up, Jeri and Robert Browning are seeing a dream of theirs come true. Their dream, as well as a dream of Habitat for Humanity of Victoria, was to see a Jackson County family receive a Habitat home.
Several families applied, others expressed interest and then never followed through, and some came very close to qualifying, but couldn’t quite meet the requirements. The Brownings began to lose hope, thinking maybe the little lot on Moody Street in Edna that was reserved for a home would remain barren.
“We had all the Habitat people over, and we put it all in the newspaper in May of 2012,” said Robert. "but when we started trying to qualify families, that’s really when things slowed down and almost stopped.”
Jeri explained that some of the hindrance was a misunderstanding of what Habitat for Humanity does.
“A lot of people think that Habitat just gives you a house,” she said, “but what we are doing is establishing home ownership. They have to have the ability to make the payments.”
For four years the couple, along with other Habitat for Humanity volunteers, would meet with families, but “most of them just didn’t meet the minimum,” Robert said.
“We had kind of given up on ever getting a family that would qualify,” said Jeri, “and we already had this lot that had been donated. We were up in Wisconsin doing another build with an organization we work with and we got the news that there was a family that had been approved. They sent us an email and asked us ‘are you still willing to be house leaders?’”
That family, the Solis family of Edna, is now helping to build with their own hands the home that Habitat helped them to receive.
“Every husband wants to provide a home for the family,” said husband and father Chris Solis. “What I’ve been able to provide up to this point has been sufficient, but not a home."
Solis and his wife Connie have two young daughters, who for the first time will have their own bedrooms.
The home, being built at 313 Moody Street off of East Street in Edna, will be a three bedroom home with a Jack and Jill bath. The Brownings said volunteers to build are welcome, especially groups.
Often businesses like banks or hospitals get volunteer groups together for Saturday mornings. Any businesses or other groups willing to help build, or anyone willing to cook meals for Saturdays are urged to call Gloria at 361-573-2511 to arrange scheduling.
Rate this article:
- Log in to post comments
