Posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 12:00 am
Lebanon Habitat for Humanity received a $3,000 check and a commitment for volunteer labor from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) last week. The labor will be from electricians who will wire two Habitat homes. One of the homes, shown in the photo, is on Wassom Place and is about ready for electrical work, and the other will be started this fall.
IBEW has donated $10,500 in cash and hundreds of man-hours so far this year to Habitat homes in six Willamette Valley communities plus nearly $40,000 to more than 30 other educational, community service, health-related and motor sports organizations.
This is the second cash donation from IBEW, said Lebanon Habitat board member Cameo Bogatin.
Grants are essential to the organization's continued operation, Bogatin said. For several years Lebanon Habitat has gotten annual or nearly annual matching grants of $25,000 from the Ford Family Foundation of Roseburg. It recently received a $35,000 grant from the Meyer Memorial Foundation.
Other income sources include house payments from families who are buying the homes as well as proceeds from benefit events put on by local churches and other organizations.
Lebanon Habitat's 10th (on Wassom Place) and 11th (on Molly Place) homes should be completed and ground should be broken for two more this year. Board members are in the process of choosing families for the next two homes (No.'s 12 and 13) and finalizing floor plans.
Bogatin said they use stock house plans and tweak them for each family.
The lots and homes are modest. The two- and three-bedroom homes are 1,000 to 1,100 square feet.
Habitat is running out of land to build on and is looking for donations of lots. It has one more lot on Wassom Street and the last of the lots donated by the school district is on Molly Place. Those will be used for the 12th and 13th houses.
Much of the labor for Habitat homes from YouthBuild, a program that teaches construction skills to local youth while they finish their high school education, and from Lebanon High School construction students. Individual volunteers also help, but generally complete small details - installing molding or hardware, for example - when a house is about done, Bogatin said. In addition, Habitat families are require to put in 500 hours of sweat equity, either on their own home or another Habitat house.