Habitat for Humanity house dedicated in ML
Herald Staff Writer | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 10 months AGO
MOSES LAKE - Tammy Roloff said an incredible chain of circumstances got the new, accessible house she had always wanted for her family. Or, in her opinion, maybe divine intervention.
The Roloff house was dedicated Saturday, the 13th house built by the Moses Lake chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The family will start moving in this week, Tammy Roloff said.
"This is the biggest house Habitat has built in the Moses Lake area," project manager Terry Hall said. The house has five bedrooms and two bathrooms, both big enough to handle wheelchairs. That helps Roloff's son Tyler Hofstetter, who's confined to a wheelchair.
The entire house is compliant to the Americans With Disabilities Act, Hall said.
Construction began in September 2013, Hall said, and the final inspections were completed last week. Habitat for Humanity's mission is to build houses for people who otherwise couldn't afford them, Hall said.
It's near Moses Lake, on 2.5 acres donated by Chris and the late Joe Rogers, who live along the same road. Most of the labor at a Habitat for Humanity house is done by volunteers or specialists donating their time, and the materials are either donated or purchased at a discount.
The family is chosen first, Hall said, then the project managers work with the family to come up with a design. "The new homeowners pay back what it costs to build the home," Hall said.
The family must donate at least 450 hours to Habitat for Humanity, either on construction or other Habitat projects, Hall said. "They were here from start to finish," Hall said of the Roloffs. "Everything they were asked to do, they did a great job. And always on time." And when the project was done, they did most of the cleanup around the house exterior.
Tammy Roloff said she never expected her family to have a house of their own, until she decided to stop thinking that way. Her decision came during a discussion at a Christian conference in Bellingham, and among the people who heard her was a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity there.
The administrators of the Bellingham chapter knew volunteers with the Moses Lake chapter, who formerly lived in Bellingham. They passed along what happened at the conference, and the Roloffs applied for Habitat for Humanity.
Tammy Roloff was overcome by emotion telling the story. "This is just - amazing," she said. It almost didn't seem real for a long time, she said, until she's on the verge of moving in.
"I can't even begin to tell you how overwhelming all of this is," she said.
Suppliers donated everything from wall studs to the grass in the front yard, she said. Volunteers donated many hours of work. Students in the Job Corps construction trades programs donated "hundreds" of hours, Habitat volunteer Don Key said.
"Well, thousands of hours," Hall said, more than 4,000 before the project was completed.
The 14th house is already underway, Hall said. The project always can use volunteers, he said, and people can find out about donating or volunteering at the Habitat office, 509-765-4030.
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