FAIRMONT – In Elaine McVay’s world, nothing makes a home … like insulation.
And siding.
In Bayou Blue.
“Everybody’s loving the Bayou Blue siding,” she said. “We’re all pretty excited.”
As executive director of Mon Valley Habitat for Humanity, McVay is always going to be excited about insulation, siding, plumbing, electrical work and the shingles that get nailed down – so the roof doesn’t leak.
What’s really exciting, though, she said, is when a deserving family gets to turn the key to the front door of their very own home.
For 34 years, Mon Valley Habitat for Humanity has been doing just that.
It helps people across north-central West Virginia achieve the American dream of home ownership who may not have the opportunity otherwise.
Habitat’s three latest builds – Nos. 70, 71 and 72 – are simultaneously taking shape in Fairmont, Marion County.
Insulation is going in the walls, and that Bayou Blue siding is going up on the outside of them.
Normally at this point in the Habitat proceedings, families already set to move in would have long been part of the process.
Such families provide the needed “sweat equity” for the homes that will be theirs, in an exchange that isn’t just about sentiment or symbolism.
It also keeps building costs down.
After that, the organization does the rest, offering 0% loans to enable families to move in.
Call the trio of Habitat homes next door a Robinson Street riff on the old “Field of Dreams” movie: Build it (them) and they (families) will move in.
Robinson Street, in Fairmont’s once-bustling Bellview neighborhood, is where the homes are located.
The builds are a partnership between Habitat and the City of Fairmont.
Several families are already expressing interest, McVay said. Visit monvalleyhfh.org for a pre-application and to learn more about Habitat.
“We’re helping families get a home of their own,” she said, “and we’re helping rehab a neighborhood.”
Habitat for Humanity International was founded in 1976 in Americus, Ga., and one of its early proponents was Jimmy Carter, the Georgia governor who was elected to the Oval Office that same year.
Carter, who just turned 100, worked on Habitat homes extensively after leaving the White House.
Today, you’ll find Habitat homes everywhere from Tucker County to Tanzania.
Nearly 50 million people across the U.S. and 70 countries have gotten to call a Habitat home – their home.
