Mahaska County Habitat For Humanity Finding Hope In The Future

Lynette Walker signed her letter of intent with Mahaska County Habitat for Humanity to build her a new home in Oskaloosa.

Lynette Walker signed her letter of intent with Mahaska County Habitat for Humanity to build her a new home in Oskaloosa. Walker is seated with her daughter.

The nonprofit is once again finding its legs after a year of regrouping.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – A fresh new board is now in place with Tiffany Anderson leading the effort as the director.

Some of that new energy is being shown with two new projects recently announced from the organization.

Michelle Purdum, board member for Mahaska County Habitat for Humanity, said their newest Oskaloosa project will be to build a home for Lynnette Walker and her family. Walker has three children that include twin boys and a young daughter.

The second project the group is undertaking is in New Sharon.

The group is still looking for a lot to build the new home on for the family of Bruce and Paulette Hill.

The family and Habitat are also open to the possibility of utilizing an existing home that can be rehabilitated. “If it’s structurally sound and it provides the space that is needed for them then we can go in and gut it and rebuild it for them,” said Purdum.

For the Oskaloosa build, Purdum explains that the group and Walker are in the process of selecting a floor plan right now.

“We have a general contractor, Bret Voss with Voss construction. He’s going to be our general contractor for this build,” explained Purdum.

Once that plan is selected, Voss will then begin to estimate the cost of materials based on that selected floor plan, square footage, and style. “Once we’ve got that information and we’ve got our budget solidified, then we will start looking for bids. We’ll seek out for the concrete, the HVAC, the plumbing and the electrical. We’ll be soliciting bids from at least three contractors, and typically labor is donated. The contractors that agree to donate their labor can write off the value of that labor, and so it becomes a tax-deductible item for them if they want to partner with us,” said Purdum.

“As part of signing the letter of intent to partner with us, Lynette will be putting in 100 hours of her own sweat equity into the property”, Purdum added.

Those hours and the hours of countless volunteers help to keep the cost low.

Mahaska County Habitat for Humanity also partners with families for critical home repairs in order to stay in their homes.

“So we’re able to do things like replacement windows, siding, furnaces, water heaters, things like that; things that affect the livability of their home,” explained Purdum.

Those repairs are made possible by a 0% interest loan, after an application process that helps to define the need.

The same system is in place for the home repairs. Volunteers help to fix the home, and Habitat provides the needed materials, to keep the cost as low as possible for the homeowner.

Mahaska County Habitat for Humanity makes these life-changing events possible through grant dollars, charitable gifts. “We are always welcoming donations, because the more donations that we get and the more grants that we can apply to, the more people we can help,” added Purdum.

You can learn more about Mahaska County Habitat for Humanity by visiting their website HERE or their Facebook Page HERE.

Posted by on Apr 22 2018. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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