Victoria Breeding and Kane in front of their new habitat home with Angela Morris from Sun Builders.

Ornage Habitat Homeowner # 21

Victoria E. Breeding & son Kane have partnered with OCHFH to become homeowners during the nationwide Home Builders Blitz completed last June.

Vickie works as a Sales and Service Specialist at Plow & Hearth and always dreamed of owning a home that will provide a better place to raise a family. Until her Habitat house was completed, Breeding lived in housing that was too expensive and too small where rent equaled more than 60% of her monthly income.

In partnering with OCHFH, Vickie & her family have volunteered more than 300 sweat equity hours by helping with the fundraising for the golf tournament at Lake of the Woods and with the various aspects of the Builder’s Blitz. She is now paying less in mortgage, taxes & insurance for her house than she was paying for her rental place.

Vickie’s home has tan siding, 1240 sq. ft. of space & a few modifications to accommodate Kane’s wheelchair. Kane will be going to Locust Grove Elementary School only 10 minutes away from their new home. They are also not too far from Orange & Fredericksburg

Vickie says she is very happy that she & Kane will be able to have a home of their own. Kane will be able to have his own swing and a huge yard to play in.

Middlebrook Home Dedicated – On November 13, 2005, family, friends, and Habitat partners gathered together on this beautiful autumn afternoon to dedicate the newest Habitat for Humanity house in Orange County. The new owners are Henry and Melinda Middlebrook and their children. The house was packed with people, and the table full of wonderful food, all prepared by Melinda and her family with loving hands and generous spirits. Rev. Elizabeth McCrary of Orange Presbyterian Church offered our thanks to God in this endeavor, and presented the Middlebrook’s with a family Bible. Ann Leahy gave a lovely cross-stitched “Welcome” to the family on behalf of the Charlottesville Chapter of Monticello NeedleArts. Dwain Cox, Executive Director of Rapidan Habitat for Humanity gave the traditional basket from Habitat to the newest partner family.

After the presentations, the packed house spilled outside into the warm afternoon. Children played in the yard, and everywhere, family and friends talked and laughed. It was a great day for a house dedication.

MEET THE FERGUSON FAMILY

Wade & Darlene Ferguson, left, in front of their new house with neighbors Robert Snead, and Lanoka Washington & her 2 sons.

Sometimes life is hard. Jobs don’t work out. Kids get sick. There’s not enough money to find a decent place to live. So you rent what you can afford. For Wade & Darlene Ferguson, that place was an old 1850’s farmhouse, with gaps in the wall where you could see daylight, with plumbing that barely worked and then quit altogether, with wood heat that needed to be fed every two hours. When it turned out that one of the children was having allergic reactions to the insulation that was in the house, the family moved to a 1 BR basement apartment.

For a family of 3 children & 2 adults, this was more than a little overcrowded. The two teenagers had to sleep in the living room while the youngest shared a room with his parents.

Hope came to this family in the person of Marlene Dominick, who chaired the Family Selection Committee for Rapidan Habitat for Humanity. Marlene brought gallons and gallons of water when the well went out; she encouraged Wade & Darlene and kept their hopes alive while they struggled to get by.

Now the Ferguson family has a new Habitat house to call home. Simon, their oldest child, is away at school. Stephen has graduated from school and begins a new job this week. And Jonathan, the youngest, is thrilled to have a room of his own. When Wade & Darlene were working on their house, Jonathan would take his toy cars and go to “his room”, even when his room was only a stud wall & a sub floor, to play.

At their house dedication Darlene & Wade Ferguson, on right, hold their dedication basket while John Henry, left, reads the needlework sampler provided by a local sewing group.

Wade says Habitat has been a blessing to his family, and he is intent on sharing that same blessing with others. His life has been changed, and Wade wants to make sure Habitat stays alive and active in this community. Since completing the work on his Habitat house, Wade has joined the Board of Directors for Rapidan Habitat and is working on ways to keep partner families involved with each other and with Habitat.

Even now, the volunteers who work and build with Habitat for Humanity amaze Wade. The Building Committee who worked side by side with Wade and other families at Tatum Villa are God-sent, giving out of the goodness of their hearts, dedicated to their work. Wade wants to continue to be a part of that, sowing seeds of blessings for other families.

We welcome Wade & Darlene Ferguson and their children as on-going partners with Rapidan Habitat for Humanity!

Meet Lanoka Washington –
September 2004

She never gives up hope

Lanoka & her 2 sons are recent partners with Rapidan Habitat for Humanity. After having put in hours and hours of sweat equity, saved up for a down payment and closing costs, and shown lots of patience, grit, and determination, Lanoka and her family will soon be moving into their new Habitat house.

Lanoka grew up here in Orange County. She wanted to help people, so she became trained as a Certified Nursing Assistant, and now works at the Baptist Retirement Home near Culpeper. Lanoka likes the residents of the Baptist Home. She’ll read a story or play a game of checkers…things that brighten up the day for someone else. One of these days, Lanoka would like to go back to school for additional nursing training.

Not too long ago, this young family was living in a rented trailer where the water was not reliable. In the summer, they usually had water, but in the winter, the pipes would freeze and there would be weeks and months without any water at all. Lanoka felt bad that she had to have her children in that kind of environment, but by the time she paid rent, bought groceries and clothes for the boys, there was no money left over.

It was also discouraging to look for a better rental place. Lanoka was told that she didn’t have enough income or that the owner didn’t want to rent to a single parent family. The thought of owning a house was far out of her reach.

When you’re young & single, you have only yourself to think about. Once you have children though, their needs come first. Lanoka says that having children “changes everything.” As Lanoka’s housing situation became worse, she says she tried everything to get a better place to live, but nothing seemed to work out. One day, Lanoka read information that had come home with her child from school, and it had a contact number for Rapidan Habitat for Humanity. She was desperate to improve her housing, so she made a call.

That was the first step in this journey. Lanoka and volunteers from Rapidan Habitat for Humanity have worked together for many months, and Lanoka’s family will soon move into their new house on Miracle Way, off Tatum Road.

Lanoka’s advice to others is “never give up hope.” Living as she did, without water, was a hard experience, but Lanoka says it made her stronger, and gave her will power to make a change. Working with the volunteers at Habitat has been a blessing, a true God-given blessing. Lanoka feels a sense of relief that she can give her children a stable home.

Her boys, Andrew and Dominic are already looking forward to their own rooms, and a yard. They’ve already met some of the youngsters in the neighborhood and started to make friends.

Meet the Coppage Family

Anna and Clayton Coppage and their two sons, Noah and Christian, moved into Tatum Villa on Saturday, September 4 th. They are very excited for this new beginning for their family.

Their journey began in 2003 when their lives began spinning out of control. They were renting a trailer that was unsafe due to high levels of carbon monoxide; unfortunately, they didn’t have enough money to afford other housing. One day their son, Noah, who was attending Head Start, brought home a little pamphlet that talked about the services and programs that are available in Orange County. The pamphlet included information about the Rapidan Habitat for Humanity.

So, Clayton called immediately, shared his story, and requested an application. Then they waited for verification that their application was accepted. In the meantime, they had to leave the trailer and began several months of homelessness; first, staying with friends, then a sibling and finally Clayton’s parents. Each move was difficult because they had no control over their environment; they were guests and their sons were confused and upset. They frequently asked, broke their hearts to hear their son feel like he had done something wrong; they felt like they had failed as parents. In faith, they would tell the boys that they were going to have a house soon.

Clayton Coppage holds welcoming card from WoodsWork that build the basic house during the June Blitz-Build.

They rejoiced when they received confirmation in February that they were accepted as a partner family; the bad news was that Rapidan Habitat wouldn’t even begin building their house until June 2004.

As they continued moving around, there was constant pressure to try to help their sons adjust to each new situation. They didn’t even have their toys, and could only play when the children they were staying with wanted to share. The pressures naturally led to family problems because they were always trying to make sure they were up early and ready to go so they wouldn’t disturb anyone especially because they were in very small houses that were already overcrowded.

In June, Rapidan Habitat broke ground on the Coppage home. During construction, they made frequent visits to check on the progress on their house and

to complete their “sweat equity” commitment. Their sons loved seeing the house and their rooms. The house was real and gave them “hope” that their life as a homeless family would come to an end.

The new Coppage Family Home waiting to be landscaped by an Orange County Garden club.

They are very grateful for a permanent roof over their heads and a safe place to raise the sons. Anna said, “we almost didn’t send Noah to Head Start, but praise God for the day I opened that little pamphlet from Head Start; I don’t know what we would have done without Habitat.”

We pray that Anna, Clayton and their sons, Noah and Christian, will be blessed in their new home for many years.

Four Families To Inhabit Tatum Villa!

Family representatives man shovels as the preparing to break ground for their new Habitat homes, L, to R., Wade Ferguson, Lanoka Washington, Clayton Coppage, and Robert Snead.

July 2004 - The four selected families were all present for the groundbreaking and have been busy putting in their sweat equity hours. Tatum Villa is a $240,000 building project and is the largest project ever undertaken by RHH. The four homes are located on large wooded lots and are ideal for young families. Each home will have it's own water well and sewerage system.

The families are:

1. Lanoka Washington and her two sons, two and five – They currently live in Unionville and Lanoka works for an assisted living facility. The two boys are in preschool.
2. Clayton Coppage and Anna and their two boys, five and three, in preschool – The family temporarily live in Spotsylvania with relatives.
3. Robert Snead and his three-year-old daughter – They now live in Locust Grove where the daughter goes to The Early Learning Center. Robert works for Lake of the Woods Association.
4. Wade and Darlene Ferguson and their two boys – the Ferguson’s temporarily live in Rixieville and are eager to get back to Orange County. Wade works for the new Lowes Home Improvement Center in Culpeper.

It'll be great to have so many children in this neighborhood. All Habitat partner families must meet 3 guidelines. First, they must have a need for better housing that cannot be met another way. Second, they must have sufficient income to repay a 0% interest mortgage. And third, they must be willing to partner with Habitat. After all, Habitat is a hand up, not a hand out, and one of Habitat's goals is to build community, not just houses.