Highland Lakes Habitat for Humanity working on four new homes
Parents Rafael and Estella Vila get their kids Jean, 7, Emmanuel, 2, and Gianni, 4, to sit for a family portrait in front of their future residence on Saturday, Jan. 17. The Vila family hopes to move into their Habitat for Humanity home on Avenue M in Marble Falls by late next month.
By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula
Future homeowners are sweating right alongside Highland Lakes Habitat for Humanity volunteers as they work to build a grouping of four homes on Avenue M in Marble Falls.
Rafael and Estella Vila are hoping to move into their new home at the end of February or in early March. The family of five includes three young boys ranging in age from 2 to 7 years. On an unseasonably warm Saturday, Jan. 17, the two oldest youngsters spent hours happily digging in the dirt in the front yard.
“We’re pirates, digging for dinosaur bones,” agreed both boys. Estella thought they might be preparing for careers as archaeologists.
The groundbreaking for the Vila home was held back in October, 2013, and the structure is looking more like a home every day.
“All that’s holding us up is the finishing work, which is the most difficult part,” Estella said.
The opportunity to learn new skills and escape one’s comfort zone are reasons people volunteer with the organization, which has built more than 124,000 homes across the nation since 1976, according to Habitat for Humanity.
“I’ve learned so many things that I’ve never done before,” Estella said. Her skills now include house framing, caulking, and, of course, using a variety of power tools.
Rafael added they’re lucky to have a “church sister” who has volunteered to look after their children while he and his wife dedicate themselves to the construction of their future home.
One of the Vila’s future neighbors is Jennifer Milligan, of Spicewood, who was putting in some volunteer hours of her own on Saturday, Jan. 17. One door down, the foundation for her future Habitat for Humanity home has been poured.
“I’m excited. It’ll be nice to not have to drive into town,” she said. It will also mean a shorter ride to school for her children, who currently endure two hours on the school bus each school day.
Caulking gun in hand, Milligan said her father was a carpenter so she “grew up in this environment.”
However, she added that she has gained a few new skills. “Framing was new to me,” she said. “You wing it in the beginning.”
Progression on the Vila house has depended on the strength of the volunteer base and coordination with contractors.
“We lost three weeks on this house waiting for the roof to go on, but that just gives us a better idea about how to go about the next houses,” said Willie Reinders, volunteer and Habitat for Humanity board member from Sunrise Beach.
Another volunteer, Joe Vandegriff, a retired electrical engineer, travels from Lago Vista to lend a hand. Just last week, Vandegriff said he volunteers because he enjoys the work and helping people. He also considers it a “work of justice.”
“It’s about making housing for people who haven’t been able to have a home,” he said, adding the future homeowners “have to help, and get with a program that lifts them out of a mentality of poverty.”
Homeowners invest time and labor on construction (“sweat equity”,) and pay an interest-free mortgage to Habitat for Humanity. Mortgage payments are often less than what families have been paying for rent, according to Habitat for Humanity.
For more on this story, see Tuesday's Highlander.
To volunteer, donate or become a partner family...
• Visit – www.hlhabitat.com
• Email – hlhabitat@gmail.com
• Call – 830-693-0700
