MARY MARAGHY/staff
Dorothy Rendell hugs Gamble Wright, family services coordinator for Clay Habitat for Humanity, at a home dedication ceremony last Friday. Rendell, mother of five, was living in a substandard home before getting a Habitat home in Green Cove Springs.

By MARY MARAGHY mary.maraghy@myclaysun.com

Dorothy Rendell used to go to bed at night worrying that the exposed electrical wires would burn down her house.

The low-income mother of five said she’s grateful to God and Clay Habitat for Humanity for her newly built 1,200-square-foot home on Center Street in Green Cove Springs.

“I’d still be living in the slums,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes at a dedication ceremony last Friday.

“A lot of people never get the opportunity to live this good. This is the most exciting day of my life so far.”
Rendell’s home was Clay Habitat’s second Women Build project, meaning it was built primarily by women, an initiative Habitat launched recently to encourage more women volunteers.

“She’s been praying for this moment for a long time,” said Rendell’s aunt, Arneitha Session of Green Cove Springs, who said the benediction prayer at a ceremony attended by Habitat’s volunteers, board members and some political dignitaries.

Habitat’s executive director Dan Riehm led attendees in a series of prayers, then presented the Rendell family with a Bible and a hammer, signifying new life and hard work.
Shania Rendell, 7, the youngest of five children, called it a special day.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “I have my own room with my own stuff in it. I don’t have to be in someone else’s room.”

The ceremony was also a dedication for another recently built Habitat home owned by Olivia Hayes. Habitat officials calls Hayes’ new home on Center Street the “Dope to Hope” house because a crack house existed on the property a few years ago. During a warrant search, police arrested 10 people, seized 40 grams of cocaine and in November 2005 the place was demolished by the Drug Abatement Response Team. That’s the dope part.

The hope part relates to New Hope Construction Inc. of Tennessee, a non-profit company that sells affordable pre-framed house kits to churches and other non-profit organizations for low-income families. Building superintendent Wayne Scott said it was Clay Habitat’s first time using a kit, where walls were already preassembled.

“We just poured the slab,” he said. “It was a good experience.”

Habitat homes
in Clay County
To date: Clay Habitat for Humanity has built 113 homes for low-income families
Next year: Habitat plans to build 12 homes on Palmer Street in Green Cove Springs
In the works: Habitat home candidates are required to spend their Saturdays helping to build their home as part of what is called sweat equity. To provide child care during this time, Clay Habitat is seeking a location for a Saturday day-care/enrichment program.
Habitat mission: Clay Habitat for Humanity, 1717 Blanding Blvd. in Middleburg, builds simple homes, using volunteer labor, and sells them with no-interest financing to low-income families.
Telephone: (904) 282-7590
On the Web: www.claycountyhabitatforhumanity.org.