Right now, one family in New Hope is renovating its home for the sole purpose of turning it over to another family.
No money will change hands, nor will any property.
And the current homeowners are building a homemade adobe shed in the front yard before giving their house away.
It”s an unconditional deal between two nontraditional families. The outgoing family in the two-story former day care on East Cherry Street consists of 11 college students. The incoming family is comprised of 10 formerly homeless boys.
The National Civilian Community Corps, a branch of Americorps, recently teamed up with the Southern Foundation for Homeless Children to renovate the building to serve as a transition home for the boys.
Gwendolyn Gray, founder of the SFHC, acquired the home, named Eastwood, through a grant in January. The original SFHC group home — the Paul home — is in Sturgis.
Eventually, Eastwood will house 10 boys in its nine bedrooms. The purpose is to give the boys, all in their late teens or early 20s, a taste of independent life. All will be required to continue in their education and look for jobs as a condition of their room and board, until they transition into their own homes.
“We hope they will have transitioned within one to two years,” said Gray.
When one boy moves on, it will clear a space for another to move in. The SFHC houses 20 boys between its two locations.
Until Friday, when the Americorps crew moves out, the home belongs to college students from all over the country.
Tara McCartney, 18, joined Americorps after graduating from high school in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area of Texas in 2008. After training with a team in Vicksburg, they went to Atlanta to help with flood recovery before landing in Columbus for their first official project.
“(Americorps) was like, ”Hey, there”s this really cool project. Do you guys want to do it?” And we were like, ”Of course,”” said McCartney.
The team arrived Sept. 2 and set about the business of making the house a home. A construction crew already had handled the structural work, so it was up to the Americorps crew to paint, caulk, put in cabinets and build an adobe shed in the front yard.
“It”s an experimental project. We”ll see if it”s going to work,” said Austin Wheeler, 20, of Northampton, Mass., who was in charge of the shed project. “The shed will hold tools and gardening equipment for the property.”
Wheeler has experience in construction, but not this kind.
“I have no experience in the field of adobe,” he said. “It”s a cheaper material, and we”re trying to keep costs down and keep it as natural as we can.”
The Americorps crew made the adobe bricks themselves.
Back at the house, Ivan Zavortink, 23, from Washington state, was in charge of constructing garden beds. But each Americorps member plays dual roles. Zavortink also is in charge of service learning.
“I try to get everyone to think about the bigger picture, how our work impacts the country as well as the community,” he said.
The crew also spends time with the boys at SFHC, serving as mentors and tutors, even though some Americorps members are the same age as the boys.
Heidi Hock, 23, recently graduated from the University of Colorado. She plans to return to graduate school for a master”s degree in social work to perform therapy with at-risk youth.
“It”s been the perfect project for me. It”s great to do the physical construction side and mentor to get a better picture of the youth I”ll one day be serving,” Hock said.
Americorps members spend personal time with the boys at SFHC every Saturday in addition to the tutoring. And the boys” grades have reflected the extra work, rising from an average of D to a B average, Hock said.
“We”re trying to instill work values, social mentoring and academics,” said Hock.
The boys and the Americorps crew teamed up to volunteer at the Lowndes County Health Department and performed other public service projects.
For more information about the SFHC, contact Gwendolyn Gray at 662-328-4736.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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