By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

A house built with nails and wood only becomes a home when a family moves in. Habitat for Humanity of York County has assisted 23 families in 23 years, turning three bedroom houses into homes, including houses in Alfred and Biddeford. 

The York County chapter of Habitat for Humanity will assist another family as it begins work on a 24^th home in York. Habitat for Humanity of York County President Rich Parsons said town officials recently approved the donation of a half-acre parcel of town owned land. He said with paperwork Habitat board members still have to complete the construction date for he new house has not yet been set, but he said it is already time to recruit volunteers and raise funds. 

“Habitat stands on three legs. We need people to volunteer, money for donations and the ability to acquire land,” Parsons said. 

While the land for the next build has already been acquired, Parsons said it costs $100,000 to build the standard ranch-style house and people to help build.

Resource Development Chairman Todd Cesca said the non-profit organization relies on fundraising and donations. 

Cesca said if people want to make financial donations, to keep them local. It is more beneficial to donate directly to Habitat for Humanity of York County than to the international chapter.

“While we benefit from international, that money may end up in Tennessee instead,” Cesca said. 

With money and land in place, Habitat for Humanity of York County hosts an application process to find a family for the house. Parsons said the majority of families who receive Habitat homes have at least one child, if not more, and single parent households are also considered. He said as of now, about half the recipients have been single parents.

Parsons said the group’s motto is “a hand up, not a hand out,” so while they look at family incomes between $40,000 and $60,000 annually, they also consider current living conditions, including whether or not the home is safe for children. If the home provides adequate shelter and the family’s potential to maintain their new home. 

“We can tell a lot by a home assessment. Are they clean and neat? Do they have a basic respect for their home? That shows whether they are good stewards of what they have,” Parsons said. 

When Troy and Crystal Holland read about Habitat’s blitz build in Alfred, they decided to apply. Crystal Holland said as former residents of Florida, they were familiar with the long waiting lists in that state for Habitat homes and didn’t expect to become recipients on their first application. 

“It’s exciting because we had been living in a two-bedroom house right in the middle of a car lot,” Holland said. 

 Holland said her daughter Nikki, 10, would sleep on the couch while her three boys Codi, 11, Nathan, 7, and Tyler, 6, shared one bedroom together and she and her husband slept in the other bedroom. She said after moving from a house without a yard, it is nice for the children to have land to play on and trees surrounding the home. 

The Tracy family is also enjoying “living on the outskirts” of Biddeford. Mary Tracy said they had always lived in town and rent had doubled for their apartment, in which the heat never worked. 

They moved into their Biddeford Habitat home two years ago, and Tracy said prior to moving in she researched proper home maintenance.

“I found information on what to do yearly — before things break down,” Tracy said. “I’ve found the house really easy to maintain. We won’t have to worry anymore about rent going up.”

Beside mortgage responsibility, each family is asked to contribute 400 hours of “sweat equity” into building their home or helping Habitat for Humanity of York County in some other way. Holland said because of the nature of the blitz build (a seven day build), they were only able to put in 200 hours, but they plan on volunteering at future builds.

Tracy said between working in the Habitat office, writing “thank you” notes to volunteers and helping build the house, the family finished 400 hours in “no time.” 

“I loved it [working on the house]. We had a part in building so we could learn how to do repairs ourselves,” Tracy said. “I want to stay in contact with new homeowners to give them advice.”

Habitat for Humanity of York County’s 23 houses can be found all over the county. Immediate plans are underway for the house in York and another lot of land being considered in Parsonsfield, Parsons said. He said the board has set a goal to build three to four houses a year within the next five years. 

“To achieve that objective, $300,000 to $400,000 a year will need to be raised,” Parsons said.

And that means Habitat for Humanity of York County needs volunteers, he said.  

Interested golfers can register for the sixth Raise the Roof Golf Tournament scheduled for 1 p.m., on Monday Sept. 15 at the Old Marsh Country Club in Wells by contacting the event coordinator Merle Googins at 625-8215. The $100 registration fee per golfer includes a golf cart, greens fees and dinner. For more information on Habitat for Humanity of York County call 985-4850 or e-mail office@habiatyorkcounty.org.