Habitat for Humanity Completes its Latest Home in La Grange

Fayette County Habitat for Humanity recently completed their latest house in the Hope Hill neighborhood of La Grange. Volunteers handed a set of house keys to the Johnny Wright family during a home blessing ceremony last Friday, May 30.

The house was packed with volunteers along with Johnny Wright, his children and extended family.

“It is always wonderful when we get to do this and you immediately get to hear what a real home sounds like, because the words you hear when we’re building a house aren’t the words you want here,” joked Habitat executive director Kenny Couch. “This is what you want – laughter – this is family. This is fantastic.”

Habitat volunteer Curtis Bradbury delivered the blessing prayer.

“God of laughter, God of joy, we give you thanks for this time to gather, to be with one another, and to look forward to the joyful noise that will be in this house with laughter and love,” Bradbury prayed. “We also give you thanks for the blood, sweat and tears, all of the drawings and imagination, that went into this house.”

Couch said that Wright, along with his oldest son Demarion, worked alongside the volunteers to build the house.

“They were out here sweating and swinging hammers to make sure y’all have a home,” Couch said to the other children during the ceremony Fri- day. “So I want you to know not only how special they are to you, but you are to them.”

Habitat for Humanity provides home ownership opportunities for families in need. Their approach is simple: they offer a hand up, not a handout. Partner families like the Wrights are required to provide “sweat equity” – a set number of hours spent working alongside volunteers on their own homes or other Habitat projects. This handson involvement ensures that they are fully invested in the process of building their futures.

And it’s not free. The organization is able to cut home-building costs through volunteer labor and donations. But the home still comes with a mortgage. Habitat for Humanity vets each applicant to ensure they can afford the mortgage. In this way, Habitat homeowners are able to build wealth and improve the future of their families.

“This is amazing,” Wright said. “This is more for my children than it is for me. Thank y’all. Much love and respect. God bless y’all. I’ll appreciate it for ever and ever. Y’all will never be forgotten.”