Archive: Around Town

It is official: the Amber Little and her two young sons have moved into their new home that was built in Lansing by 500 Habitat For Humanity of Tompkins and Cortland Counties (TCHFH) volunteers.  Suncday TCHFH held a dedication and ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of the house.  38 people, mainly volunteers and family were present to see a giant key handed over to Amber Little and her two children Maleki and Maximus.

"Before we got accepted as a Habitat family we had a rough time moving from place to place," Little said.  "Being a single parent with two kids was very hard.  I'm very thankful that we were picked.  Habitat has made our lives so much better.  My boys are so excited to have their own room, and their own stuff."


The one storey, three bedroom house was built on a piece of a seven acre lot in North Lansing.  About five and a half acres of that land is reserved for a conservation easement.  The house features a dining/living area, and a kitchen with a small mud/utility room, and a small front porch. Radiant heat is propane powered.  It took 14 months from start to finish.

"In April 2009 we were here for the ground breaking," said TCHFH Board President Angela Loh.  "It was hot, muggy and sunny that day.  That was the real start, and then we had 14 months of what I call building and learning.  We found we had a very difficult site.  It took us a long time to get the septic system sited and the house organized in a way that we could have a regular gravity drain system for the septic system.  That was important, because it meant less money and maintenance for the homeowner."


Contributions to the house were still coming, even on Sunday.  Roger Minor built a wooden coffee table, which was delivered into the house before the ceremony.  Loh thanked volunteers for their contributions, notably project manager Dean Shea and Shannon Wheeler.  Then she recounted the history of the house after Dave Nicholls opened with a prayer.

"It took many months for us to get here," she said.  "In June of 2008 Chuck Broadhead and I went to the Tompkins County foreclosure sale.  We sat there and bought this lot.  That was our kickoff for getting back to Tompkins County, because we hadn't built here in 15 years.  The last time we built in this county was 1994, so it was a long time.  In the interim we had built several houses in Cortland."

Family Advocate Sally Hoyt presented Little with a giant symbolic key for the house, and provided scissors so Little and her children Maleki and Maximus could cut the ribbon that made the dedication of the house official.  Then Nichols blessed the house and presented Little with the Bible he had read from.

"It's been a great experience for me," Little said.  "I've never done volunteering like this before.  Now our dreams can finally come true.  We have a stable place to live and not have to move again."


TCHFH broke ground on two new houses in Dryden and Cortland about a month ago.  A modular house from TST BOCES will be installed virtually overnight at the Dryden location by mid-July.  Loh says there will be a lot of finishing work once that is done.  Currently TCHFH volunteers are rushing to prepare the Cortland site before 50 volunteers from Clarion, PA come up for a 'blitz build.'  They will erect walls, trusses, and joists within a four day period.

While this is happening Loh says TCHFH is looking for lots for three more houses to be completed in 2012.  Possible locations may be Lansing, Groton, and Cortland.  Loh says they are also looking for efficiencies in building to bring down costs.

"It costs us about $130,000 to build a house," she said.  "Not all of that is cash, but it's very expensive.  Over the next year or two we're going to look at how we can make the cost of those houses go down because we want to make it more affordable.  We serve people within the 30% to 60% median of County income range.  We want to try to reach lower to help people who really can't afford a house, so we can serve more families."


Habitat officials say they have people lined up to finish the landscaping.  The lawn will be seeded in the fall.  Loh welcomed Little to her home and encouraged her to remain active with the Habitat community.

"Many of us are here because we feel blessed in our lives," she said.  "We've had people to support us, people to help us grow and flourish.  We hope that as you go forward that you will be an active part of the Habitat community to help others and pay if forward."

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