A Wallaceburg family is settling into its new home, the latest Habitat for Humanity build in Chatham-Kent.
The keys to the Bethel Road home were recently handed over to the Dramnitzke family, Melanie and her two children, Terri and Rhonda.
Construction of the home was originally slated to take place in 2020, but was delayed by the pandemic.
Megan VanderEnde, Chair of the Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors, says the challenges didn’t stop there.
“We definitely experienced some of the challenges of supply chain delays, we also had to think creatively about how to keep our staff and contractors and volunteers safe in the midst of doing this build,” Vanderende explains. “We found ways to make it work and I think there were a lot of lessons that we learned from it”
Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with its recipient families, who put in 500 hours of volunteer service in exchange for an interest free mortgage tailored to their income.
Habitat officials will now be turning their focus inward for the organization’s next big project.
“We will be building ourselves a new home as well, We will be looking to relocate our ReStore and so that’s kind of top of mind for us right now.”
Vanderende says the organization also has to take into account challenges of the current housing market and how that will affect partner families moving forward.
Taking some of the lessons learned from the most recent build, VanderEnde says Habitat plans to better leverage the skilled trades and local builders to oversee future projects.
Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent also hopes to more effectively engage volunteers and members of the community. VanderEnde says she knows it means so much to local residents to be able to lend a hand and be involved.