Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County had a groundbreaking Monday for two homes in Claypool. Pictured (L to R) are Brian Smith, Habitat board president; Ben Stage, Claypool Town Board; Ben Logan, Habitat executive director; Kane and Tracy Campbell, Habitat family; Chloe Pugh and Courtney Dickson, Habitat family; Rob Nelson, Claypool United Methodist Church pastor; and Dennis Judy, Habitat construction manager. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.
Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County had a groundbreaking Monday for two homes in Claypool. Pictured (L to R) are Brian Smith, Habitat board president; Ben Stage, Claypool Town Board; Ben Logan, Habitat executive director; Kane and Tracy Campbell, Habitat family; Chloe Pugh and Courtney Dickson, Habitat family; Rob Nelson, Claypool United Methodist Church pastor; and Dennis Judy, Habitat construction manager. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.
CLAYPOOL - Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County has a long-term goal to build three homes per year in Kosciusko County.

Traditionally, it’s been one home per year.

To get there, the nonprofit organization is starting with two homes in Claypool side by side for its 2023 build season. A groundbreaking ceremony for the homes along South Graceland Avenue took place at 5 p.m. Monday.

Ben Logan, Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County executive director, said, “If you don’t know much about Habitat, we are all here to make homeownership a reality, and that’s what we’re going to do tonight.”

He said there will be two homes on the land, with Tracy Campbell and her son Kane in the home on the south side, and Courtney Dickson and her daughter Chloe Pugh in the other home on the north side. The town of Claypool helped Habitat obtain the land by donating it to Habitat.

“The last time I checked, you need that to build a house, so we are very grateful for them and we’re very excited to be back down here after some time,” Logan said.

Ben Stage, Claypool Town Board member, welcomed the two new families to the community.

“I think it’s an exciting time for both the families and the town, and I wish you all well,” Stage said.

Logan talked about the “sweat equity” families receiving a home put into its construction. “That’s the hours our families put into Habitat, into their homes, into other people’s homes, so these two mothers have been working hard. Their children have also been working alongside them as they can, and it has just been great to see them pour into, obviously, this organization, but also for this organization. So thank you so much for working hard. I can’t promise it gets any easier at this point; honestly, it gets more crazy, but it will be worth it,” he said.

Habitat Construction Manager Dennis Judy read scripture from Hebrews chapter 3 and Isaiah chapter 32 in the Bible. Before doing so, he said, “I don’t know how many of you ever looked through scripture to look up certain words. There’s a whole bunch of scripture that talks about house and houses and homes and stuff, and I only selected two of them for today.”

He told the homeowners that his prayer for them would be that they would be blessed.

Claypool United Methodist Church Rev. Rob Nelson reminded everyone at the groundbreaking that Jesus’ family heritage job was carpenters.

“He would be pleased for what we are doing,” Nelson said, and then led everyone in prayer.

After the ceremony, Judy talked about the two houses that will be mirrors of each other. Each one will be a little over 1,100 square feet, with three bedrooms, one bathroom and built over a 4-foot crawl space. There will be a storage shed in the back.

“(They’re) kind of an open-concept type of home. The kitchen, living room, dining room are all just one big room. No hallways in the house at all. A big utility room. Just a nice, comfortable room,” he said.

The hope is that both homes will be completed in six to seven months. “My goal would be to have both families in before Thanksgiving. I always feel like we’ve accomplished quite a bit if we can do that,” he said.

Construction of two houses simultaneously presents some challenges, he agreed, but, “It also allows us the opportunity for a lot more volunteers to be involved. We have several groups already signed up. We do have a week in June - the 19th through the 26th - which is going to be our Women’s Build Week. We’re planning right now for about 20 to 30 people on-site every day for the mornings during that week, get a lot of stuff done. I think we can do it. We have good people out there willing to work. So we’re going to get it done.”

Judy said he was really excited for the families.

Courtney Dickson said she was really excited about the home build and was holding back tears. Her daughter, Chloe, said she was feeling “great.”

Originally, Dickson said she wasn’t going to pursue a Habitat build because she thought Habitat for Humanity was a free house and she didn’t feel like she needed to do that. “But, actually, the ladies from work pushed me to go ahead and apply, so I did,” she said. That was in June, and in August she received the call that she was chosen for a home build.

“I actually started bawling and I couldn’t stop,” Dickson said.

Tracy Campbell, who currently lives in Westhaven Estates in Warsaw, said she decided to pursue a home through Habitat for Humanity because of the “situation I am in now. I wanted a safe living environment for my son and I.”

Now that the process is going, she said it feels “kind of like a dream, but it’s a dream come true. A very big blessing for my son and I.”

Stage explained that originally there were two homes on the land, 411 and 501 S. Graceland Ave., but those homes deteriorated years ago and the people that still owned the property donated to the town of Claypool. As the town board tried to figure out what to do with the land, Stage said Claypool has had a couple other Habitat homes built, so they decided to donate the land on Graceland to Habitat to get new families into the community. They donated the land before Covid hit in 2020.

Logan said Habitat typically tries to raise half the funding upfront, which they do have, but they need the other half to finish strong. “So that’s why we always encourage businesses, local businesses, sponsors, churches, groups, any individuals who want to donate toward that, they can go just go to kosciuskohabitat.org and get connected and give through that,” he said.

If anyone wants to get involved, visit kosciuskohabitat.org/give to donate or kosciuskohabitat.org/volunteer to volunteer.