Imagine having your neighbors come together to build you a new home. That's exactly what one woman got this weekend.
"The reason why i started it [is] because I want to have a life long residency here in Jeff City, since iI grew up here. I don't want to keep renting, paying on something that will never amount to anything," said Melissa Oliver, a recipient of a new home.
In six to ten months, she'll have a life-long investment, thanks to a helping hand from Habitat for Humanity, and she's not the only one.
"We're approaching 80 houses. So we have Melissa Oliver who is going to be our new home owner of this property, and we're coming up, and we're coming up out of the ground," said local Habitat Board President Mark Johnson.
With nearly 80 homes built so far, and more to come around the Jefferson City area, Habitat for Humanity says it's not about handing out homes, it's about handing them up.
"We build it, our partner families donate as much as 400 hours of volunteer labor to that house, and then we provide a zero interest mortgage to our home owners so that they can have home ownership that perhaps they couldn't have if we didn't provide the financing for these houses,” said Johnson.
"A lot of people think that the recipients are getting free houses, and it's not like that at all. We have a mortgage just like anybody else. it's just that we work hard on our own house,” Oliver said.
After seeing all the hard work being done on her house, Melissa says she plans to pay it forward.
"I think it's awesome. i would do it for someone else after seeing everybody that comes together for me. I am totally willing to help somebody else after this,” she said.
After all, lending a helping hand is what neighbors are for.
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