Sometimes, a kid just has to romp in her front yard.
Even on a cold, rainy day.
And even if said yard doesn’t exist … yet.
That’s what 4-year-old Athena Graham was doing on this particular cold, rainy Thursday afternoon at 1451 Bergamont St., in Morgantown.
The narrow, winding street off W.Va. 705 and in the heart of the region’s West Run District will be her address in coming months.
Joining her will be Chris and Cathy Graham, her mom and dad.
Her big brother, Thor, who is 8, will be there, too.
“And I’ll get my own room,” she said.
Mom Cathy concurred.
“You’ll get your own room, honey.”
Athena’s room and the rest of the dwelling will come courtesy of Mon Valley Habitat for Humanity.
The nonprofit, ecumenical organization helps build houses for people who might not get to live that part of the American dream otherwise.
Fifty-nine homes across the region have gone up since its founding in Morgantown in 1990.
Wait. Check that, said Shawnda Cook, Mon Valley’s executive director.
“We’re actually just about done with No. 60,” she said.
And Nos. 61, 62 and 63, she said, are set to be built.
Put me in, Coach
That’s what’s going on at Bergamont.
The planned houses there will be duplexes, meaning that six families, opposed to three, will have places that will be theirs.
Mon Valley is also partnering for the first time with WVU’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
That means student-athletes and athletic department staffers will be doing the volunteer work, as well.
WVU Athletic Director Shane Lyons crouched under an umbrella during the brief groundbreaking ceremony to talk about it.
“We already know how to build teams,” he said. “Now we’re ready to build houses.”
Not every student who plays sports at WVU besides football or basketball is visible to Morgantown, Lyons said.
The partnership, with its opportunity to do good work, changes that, he said.
“It’s a chilly rainy day today, and that makes it even more special when you know you’re helping provide a home for little Athena over there.”
Measure twice …
Mon Valley Habitat for Humanity has put collective roofs over the heads of nearly
240 people in its 19 years of operation here.
The local chapter is under the roof Habitat for Humanity International, which was founded in 1976 in Americus, Ga.
It remains a favorite outreach organization of former Georgia governor and U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who continues to work on Habitat houses despite being in his 90s.
Twenty-two million people worldwide have been the recipients of Habitat for Humanity housing since its start back in America’s bicentennial year.
You’ll find Habitat homes from Roane County to Romania. It can cost up to $75,000 to build a house, the organization said previously.
In the U.S., the favored style is a single-story ranch, with one bathroom, 2-3 bedrooms and 1,000 (or so) square feet of living space.
Families put in “sweat equity” during the construction — up to 250 hours for those 18 and older — with plumbing, wiring and roofing farmed out to other Habitat volunteers with expertise in those areas.
“Everything goes pretty fast once you get the foundation done,” said Frank Bennett, Mon Valley’s construction site manager.
“We just got the site cleared here,” he said, gazing at the bowl-shaped expanse sloping down from Bergamont where the duplexes will go.
“There are going to be challenges with the terrain, but that’s any time you build in West Virginia.”
