By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - After years of having to rent homes, one family's dream of being able to own their very own home is finally becoming a reality.
On Saturday, the Niles-Buchanan Habitat for Humanity started work on its 21st project, a four bedroom home located at 1364 Ferry St. for Scott and Denise Houck of Buchanan and their five children, Josh 14; Carllie 11; Dallas, 9; Dyllon, 7 and Tyler 5. The Niles project is an affiliate program of the Jimmy Carter Work Project which is taking place all over the world, with many homes being built in Benton Harbor and Detroit.
The family found out about Habitat for Humanity, through Denise's brother Barry Nichols, who is the pastor at the First Church of God, in Niles and also through the Internet.
With this house the family will end up with space for everyone.
Work on the house began in October with the foundation being put in, so when the weather warmed up, work could begin as quickly as possible.
Scott and Denise will each have to put in 250 hours of work on the house as part of the Habitat for Humanity program. As of right now they have put in about 91 hours of work.
Denise who is presently a stay-at-home mom, plans on being at the house through out the week, working on projects, and Scott who works at the Steel Warehouse in South Bend, Ind. has been going into work early so that he is able to get out of work in time to do some work on the house.
All of the Houck children are very excited about getting to move into a brand new house.
The house is scheduled to be finished by June 24, which is the big dedication day with the Jimmy Carter Work Project.
This project is also special because it has a business sponsor for the first time. Coldwell Banker Real Estate Specialists of Niles is sponsoring the home. They will be raising the funds for the project.
If anyone would like to make a donation they can send a check to Coldwell Banker R. E. Specialists at 1400 Chicago Rd. in Niles. The checks can be made out to Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat for Humanity is also always looking for volunteers to help out on their projects.
If anyone is interesting in helping out they can contact Habitat for Humanity at 687-1672.