Dream House to Replace a Nightmare
The trailer occupied by the Toms family has all the creature comforts-if you happen to be a creature. Walls with holes and broken windows prove inviting for insects, opossums and even bats. Carol Toms, 42, says she hears small, unidentified creatures "scratching in the walls" all night long.The dilapidated trailer is more of a hardship to the Toms than it would be to the average family. Four of the seven family members are disabled. The living space is so cramped that the hospital bed of David McClure, Carol's father (he has Parkinson's and other ailments), occupies the living room.
All this will change dramatically later this year when the Toms move into a beautiful new home in Seguin, Texas (USA). The four-bedroom, two-bath frame home will feature vinyl siding, central air and heat, a covered front porch and a paved driveway. A family that has had to grapple with more than its share of sickness and disease will at last realize the American dream of home ownership.
Making their dream come true has been Lions from six local clubs and LCIF. Lions and LCIF have partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build the home.
LCIF gave a US$23,600 Core 4 grant for the home. The Lions clubs--Seguin Noon, Sunset, Sunrise, Evening and Midday and Nixon Lions--donated US$6,410 and are providing volunteer labor. The Guadalupe Valley Habitat for Humanity affiliate contributed US$18,190 in cash and in-kind donations.
The Toms--a mother, father, their two boys and three relatives--are providing at least 400 hours of sweat equity on the home.
LCIF, Habitat and local Lions have partnered to build more than 500 homes for people with disabilities since LCIF set aside US$9 million for the program in 1999. (In 2001, LCIF committed an additional US$3 million to the initiative.)
The "Lions Home" in Seguin is next to Hope House, another home built by Habitat. Lions volunteered a total of 137 hours on Hope House, now completed and occupied.
The construction of Lions Home was furthered along by the participation of 20 college students from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The youths worked on the home in March as a spring break service project. The Evening Lions treated them to lunch one day and the Noon Lions brought them to their weekly lunch meeting on another day.
Lions will continue to work on the home until it is finished before Christmas. At this home, the Toms will be able to take pride in and enjoy their creature comforts.
