Harris Family Selected as Sixth Recipients from the Chillicothe Area Habitat for Humanity

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The newest CAHH family includes Wendy and Bob Harris, pictured with two of their three children.
The family was notified of their selection on Tuesday, December 17, 2002.

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OUR SIXTH HOME
Information and photos about our homes come from articles published by the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune. The following excerpt was published in the C-T Monday, December 23, 2002. Article and photos by Laura Schuler

Taylor Harris, 3, has a pair of red, sparkly shoes. She loves to wear them and shows them off to anyone and everyone who walks in the door. And while she's never seen the movie "Wizard of Oz," she does know that there is no place like home.

Her parents, Bob and Wendy Harris, know that too, and have considered themselves lucky to be living in a nice (albeit very crowded) apartment in the Chillicothe Housing Authority complex at 1447 Alexander Street. There are only two bedrooms, which makes things difficult for Taylor and her older brother, Tyler, 8, but the Harrises do the best they can, all the while dreaming about owning their own home someday.

But the Harrises knew that it would be a long time before they could afford to make their dream come true. The dream of owning their own home was just that -- a dream... that is, until Tuesday night. Wendy, currently a stay-at-home mom who plans to go to work when her daughter starts preschool, was home with Taylor. She was talking to a friend on the phone, when she answered a knock on her door at around 8 p.m., that would change her life forever. Standing outside was a contingent of 10 smiling faces, anxious to break the news that the Harris family had been chosen as the next Habitat family in Chillicothe.

The Harrises have picked up applications twice before in recent years, but did not turn them in by the deadline. There were a total of six other families, including the family of Bob's sister, Wendy Wilson, who applied to be Habitat families. Don Hoffman, Family Selection Committee Chairman, noted that the decision of just which family will be chosen is always extremely difficult. Hoffman said that the Harris family was chosen, in part, because the family lacked adequate living space.

A ground-breaking ceremony was held March 8, 2003 (photo at left) at 421 Herriman, the location of the new home.

Family Notified Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Home Dedicated

VISITORS HELP WITH HABITAT HOME
The following story and photo were published in the May 8, 2003, Constitution-Tribune. C-T Photos and article by Dave Kinnamon

050803 care-a-vanners (15428 bytes) Care-A-Vanners are moving the Herriman Street Habitat home right along. They arrived to a concrete crawl space on Monday morning and already have the house framed inside and out.

Fourteen Care-A-Vanners and three local Habitat For Humanity board members labored this morning on Herriman Street. Copeland Construction donated a crew and bulldozer.

The Care-A-Vanners from Habitat For Humanity are back. Seven couples from four different states pulled in to Chillicothe in their recreational vehicles this past Sunday. Last year, 17 Care-A-Vanners worked about this same time of year at the dual build in the 400 block of Herriman Street. Last year's Care-A-Vanners, just like this year's have already done, moved the building project along with their labors. The Chillicothe Habitat For Humanity is working on its sixth home.

This year's group of 14 out-of-town volunteers began work on Monday. They arrived at the build site, Moving right along (11944 bytes) on the corner of Herriman Street, to find only a concrete crawl space, a driveway and a small storage shed built. In three days, which includes half a rain day, the 2003 Care-A-Vanners have completed all the outer framing and indoor framing, the outside insulation and the trusses on the roof. What looked like just a concrete slab on Monday is now taking shape into a real home.

Though all the Care-A-Vanners are retired from long careers, these folks love to work. While some retirees might spend the day golfing, sunning, sightseeing or fruitlessly looking for buried treasure with a metal detector, these guys and gals have hammers and nails and ladders and levels and, perhaps the most important tools of all -- enthusiasm and commitment to their fellow human beings.

Local Habitat board member Mike McClure has been at the build everyday helping. As has volunteer Tony Figg. The future residents of the home, Bob and Wendy Harris, also show up almost daily to put "sweat equity" into the home, a requirement of Habitat For Humanity. Local Habitat board member and site coordinator for this year, Elizabeth Cunningham, of Dawn, works at the build everyday, too.