The first house in 1986, on 28th Street, went to Mike and Wendy Savage, a couple with six children. They had five when construction began. The most recent — the 250th house — belongs to Geraldine Burston-Vann, a 47-year-old cancer survivor.
Twenty-five years have passed since the local affiliate of Habitat to Humanity came into being, and with it untold hours of “sweat equity,” nails driven with love, and determination to help people achieve a cornerstone of the American Dream: home ownership.
On Thursday night, leaders and volunteers of the local affiliate, past and present, will gather to celebrate those 25 years. The event will include video remembrances, as well as college students participating in next week’s annual Collegiate Challenge. Six houses will go up starting Monday.
Habitat for Humanity International was founded in 1976 in Americus, on a wing and a prayer. After several years of soul searching about their marriage and future, Millard Fuller and his wife Linda gave birth to a passion for eliminating poverty housing. Millard Fuller left Habitat about five years ago and then formed the Fuller Center for Housing in Americus. He died suddenly a little over a year ago. Linda continues his work at the Fuller Center.
Habitat for Humanity named Jonathan Reckford as CEO in 2005.
Habitat is nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization, active in all 50 states and 90 countries.
The first Columbus build
Guy Sims, the principal of Fox Elementary School in the 1980s, had gotten word to Mike Savage about Habitat. St. Thomas Episcopal Church donated the land for what would become the Savage’s home. It’s about a block off Second Avenue, near an auto repair shop. True of all Habitat builds, the family had to contribute funds, as well as “sweat equity” — helping in the construction. In keeping with what Habitat believes is a biblical mandate, Habitat doesn’t charge interest to homeowner mortgages.
“I nailed, did the sheetrock, the frame and put up the siding — just about everything,” Mike Savage told the Ledger-Enquirer in 1986. “We started at the stubs and quit at the finish.”
In his day job, Mike Savage rebuilt car alternators at a local garage.
“It was a great step in faith when we said we would build you a house,” Sandra Pennell, the second local board president, told the Savages in 1986. “This house is built with love in every nail.”
The first local board president was a woman named Virginia Connelly.
Meeting with Millard
Former President Jimmy Carter, who grew up in Plains and moved back there after his presidency, was an early devotee of Habitat for Humanity and volunteer. Wife Rosalyn often pitched in as well; with their name recognition, they helped propel the ministry worldwide.
“When you give a person a decent place to live, you give them more than just a roof over their heads,” Carter said at a house dedication in Americus in 1987. “You provide a life that is worth living.”
Columbus attorney Ken Henson Jr., first met Millard Fuller about three years after Fuller started Habitat. Their initial connection was Henson’s father, also an attorney, who had given Fuller some legal books. Ken Henson Jr., drove to Americus one day in 1979 to meet the entrepreneur.
“I can remember one of the times I went down there. Millard had remarkable spring in his step and it was hard to keep up with him,” Henson said. “I remember he picked up some trash on the way to the courthouse.
“In 1980, the thought of building houses for African-Americans wasn’t the most popular thing in Americus. But over time, people saw what good it did for the community,” Henson said.
One of Fuller’s dreams was to eliminate poverty housing around the globe, but then realized it was also in his own backyard.
Henson has been a local volunteer from the beginning. His main involvement is helping scope out available land around the city and helping Habitat get it. The affiliate’s fourth board president, he remembered the first build for the Savage family vividly.
“It was a struggle. People were probably out there 52 weekends of the year,” said Henson, who’s able to cite names of many of the early homeowners. Henson became the affiliate president in 1990, the same year the first congregation — First Baptist — sponsored a house. It’s off Buena Vista Road.
The local affiliate hit gold in 1990 when the local homebuilders association came aboard, then in 1991 when the Edna Kendrick family gave Habitat a swath of property in south Columbus. Originally named Kendrick’s Quarters, it was renamed Southwestview, and was big enough for 50 houses.
In 1998, the Bradley-Turner Foundation gave Columbus Habitat a three-year grant of $1 million. That was another major boost, Henson said.
‘Main event’
Like Henson, Regino Diaz-Torres — who goes by “Diaz” — has been a longtime laborer. He was a construction volunteer for about seven years before he was hired as the construction manager in 1998.
This past Wednesday, Diaz worked on clearing mud with about 10 other guys on a Habitat lot on Baker Circle. A couple of dogs ran around the site. A neighbor scaled a chain link fence to escape one. Sounds from nearby Victory Drive are audible from the property, one of the locations for next week’s Collegiate Challenge.
“We work all year for this main event,” said Diaz, referring to the weeklong challenge. With his boots covered in mud and a hole from a fire burned into his gray sweatshirt, Diaz said he likes all aspects of his work. “But things like the weather, we can’t control.”
The Rev. Riley Middleton was the Columbus chapter’s first paid construction supervisor. A retired United Methodist minister, Middleton purchased materials and tools for the local Habitat builds. He began as a volunteer in the late 1980s and was hired full time in 1989. “They had built one house (the Savage’s) when I got involved,” Middleton said this week. “It was a very enjoyable experience.”
He left the local affiliate in 1994, when he took another job with the South Georgia United Methodist Conference.
Though the public was generally not as aware of Habitat then as now, Middleton said, the local chapter leaders were very much plugged into the vision and direction of Fuller and his staff.
Middleton was involved in the construction of 18 Habitat houses.
“Riley was the perfect person at the right time,” Ken Henson said. “He didn’t have all the construction skills, but he seemed to know everything. And because he was a minister, he knew how to talk to people and get things done.”
‘A decent home’
Local land for Habitat builds have followed distinct patterns. One of the first major groupings of homes cropped up in south Columbus around 30th and 31st streets. Then there was a multi-family complex built on Buena Vista Road, Midtown, North Highland and Benning Park. The 250th house, sponsored by Brookstone School, is on the corner of Benning Drive and Winston. It has plants in the front.
After Pennell’s term as president, local attorney John Partin became head of the board. As is usual at home dedications, the Savages received a Bible at their home dedication. Partin presented it to them.
Then followed a dry spell, Partin said, between the first house and the second.
“That was a tough time. I remember several (board) sessions where a woman minister said we needed to start praying — asking the Lord to lead us to property,” Partin said. Soon after, more land opened up.
Another hard time was having to foreclose on one of the early properties, Partin said.
“We learned a valuable lesson: that you just don’t keep them because you want them,” he said.
The most recent local Habitat homeowner, Geraldine Burston-Vann, lives on disability. About 50 Brookstone students helped Burston-Vann build her house.
“I’m a cancer survivor and was living in an apartment,” Burston-Vann said at the dedication Feb. 19. “I prayed to God for something like this, a decent home, a place I want my grandchildren to visit. Sometimes, prayers are answered.”
Allison Kennedy, 706-576-6237
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