Fairfield family receives Habitat home

FAIRFIELD – Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity held a dedication ceremony Wednesday afternoon to hand over the keys of a newly completed home to its new occupants.

The family of Alicia Abbott and her children Hunter (18), Alyia (17) and Lelend (7) are the proud owners of the house at 904 N. 12th St. in Fairfield, the latest in a string of homes that Habitat has built on North 12th Street in recent years.

Amber Stump McDowell, a member of the Habitat board, said she was very proud of the work Alicia and her family put in. Construction manager Jerry Leonard said Alicia’s family has been amazing to work with, and praised the board members for their help, too. Board member Mary Webb said they especially appreciated volunteers like Steve Miller and Steve Winslow, who helped install the floor.

Habitat requires that each adult homeowner contribute 200 hours of “sweat equity” into the project, either by helping at the construction site or by donating their time at Habitat ReStore on West Burlington Avenue. Alicia said it was a relief to finally get the keys on Wednesday afternoon after so much work went into the house.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity,” she said.

Alyia said helping with the house was gratifying but also hard work.

“We joked before we started that I wasn’t going to be much help, that I was just going to give people lunch,” Alyia said.

But in fact Alyia did put her blood, sweat and tears into the house, sometimes literally.

“My blood is in the floor because I kept cutting myself on the sharp pieces,” she said.

Steve Miller is Alyia’s wrestling coach at Fairfield High School. She said that having him there was a big help.

“I was good because I already knew him, and he kind of forced me to learn how to put flooring in a house at eight in the morning on a Saturday,” Alyia said.

During Wednesday’s ceremony, Habitat board member Mary Webb gave the family three gifts, taken from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life.” She gave them bread, so that the house may never know hunger; salt, so that life may always have flavor; and sparkling wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever.

McDowell said that this house was built by Homes for Iowa, a division of Iowa Prison Industries. The house is prefabricated and is brought in on a trailer. There is still work left to do, such as adding the flooring, putting another layer of paint on top of the primer, adding the decks to the front and side, and building a shed in the back.

This was the third home Habitat has purchased from Homes for Iowa. It’s the 29th Habitat home overall in Fairfield. Habitat has five more vacant lots on North 12th Street where it will put future homes, land that it purchased from Fairfield Economic Development Association. McDowell and Shanaz Kreider, who runs Habitat ReStore, said Habitat has about $151,000 in this house.

Habitat homeowners receive a no-interest loan to buy the house, which they then make monthly payments on.

Though Alyia and Lelend were able to attend Wednesday’s ceremonies, Alicia’s son Hunter was not able to attend because he left for basic training in early January.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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