By JESSE DAVIS
For Jean Neely, it was a dream come true.
“This is the day we’ve been waiting for,” Neely said. “There are so many emotions it’s hard to describe. Just getting to this day, it’s overwhelming.”
That day was Saturday, when Neely and a group of friends and volunteers through Habitat for Humanity of Elkhart County came together to build frames for the walls of her new home.
In all, three of her coworkers, two of her aunts, the town marshal’s wife, several members of her church, a member of another church, two Goshen Community Schools teachers and a Fairfield teacher all donated their time and effort to help make Neely’s dream a reality.
“To see them all come together even though I hadn’t seen some of them in a while, it was really heartwarming,” Neely said.
She had tried to get her own home herself, but medical bills made it impossible, and she has been living with her children, a 10-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son, at her mother’s house for the last six and a half years.
“I feel very fortunate that we were selected as one of the Habitat families to receive a home,” she said. “It might have been years before we could have done it on our own.”
The turning point was when she was accepted into the Habitat program the day before Thanksgiving in 2008.
“They are very supportive, very helpful. They’ve been there for me when I needed someone to talk to,” Neely said.
She said she is even Facebook friends with some of them.
Since then, she has been fulfilling the requirements of the program by taking classes, completing community service with Stamp Out Hunger and Feed the Hungry as well as through her church, working at the Habitat ReStore and helping build four other houses. Her son has even worked with her as a runner and tagger at the ReStore’s 50 percent off sales.
When it finally came time to build her own home, Neely had to find somewhere to do it. The first thing that came to her mind was Forest River, where she has been employed since 1993.
“I talked to the plant manager when I knew we were going to be working when it was cold outside to see if we could use the plant,” Neely said. “He was very gracious. We came in yesterday and he had cleared out the area for us.”
She said that support has been forthcoming from all areas. A small group of volunteers helped put up a shed last weekend on the Millersburg property where Meely’s house will sit. In September 2009, the Fairfield football team and Head Coach Bob Miller helped prepare the site for the foundation. The block foundation and subfloor of the home have since been constructed.
“We have a huge network of people who have been supporting us through the whole process,” Neely said, also noting that “God has a hand in it.”
Not only people but businesses and churches have also helped her. Rock Run Church of the Brethren has provided snacks during each of the building efforts so far, and Millersburg staple the Pizza Depot, owned and operated by residents Gene and Priscilla Hile, provided lunches.
Habitat’s goal is to have Neely’s home constructed and finished by March 12, the day before her 40th birthday.
“We are so excited to begin completing this home,” Habitat Volunteer Coordinator and AmeriCorps member Keith Gassman said in a press release. “The community of Millersburg has welcomed (the Meely family) and Habitat with open arms.”
Neely has since helped a couple of her friends enroll in the Habitat program, and said she will help them get through and build their homes as well.
