Her co-workers at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital certainly know that next Friday, Sept. 25, is going to be a big day for Lori Byrd.
“I’ve been counting down the days,” Byrd said. “My co-workers are probably tired of hearing about it but I’m so excited.”
The event she’s talking about would make anyone excited; she’s receiving the keys to a house that has been two years in the making.
Habitat for Humanity has been fighting a tough economy to finish the house, but a final push by builders and volunteers finally has Byrd and her four children on the doorstep of their own home.
“We found out two years ago that we had been approved for the home and we worked every Saturday there was a work day last summer to get it done,” Byrd said. “Me and either one or two or three of the kids, depending on what kind of school activities were happening, were out there because we wanted to get it done quickly. We’ve had some delays but I think the anticipation has made it even more worth it.”
Scott Clayton was at the future Byrd home on Thursday to accept a donation to pay to put the finishing touches on the property.
Lions Club President Randy Holswarth, Secretary Nellie Holswarth and board member Chet Holswarth delivered a check for $500 to the Habitat for Humanity.
“This is for the finishing touches,” Randy Holswarth said. “We want to finish Lori’s house and get her into it. We had some extra money and we were looking for something to do with it. Someone suggested we donate $50 to this but I said why don’t we do something that really has an impact so this is what we decided to do.”
Holswarth said Byrd and other members of her family were members of their group at one time and they remembered her and wanted to help.
As the Lions Club was presenting its check to Clayton on the main floor of the home, Gary Wescott, Lori’s boyfriend, was in the basement building a utility room around the furnace and water heater.
The materials for the utility room were donated by Byrd’s church, the Grace Pointe Church in Carthage.
Clayton said the First Christian Church in Carthage got together recently and built the deck on the south side of the home.
He said Lowe’s Heros, volunteers from the Lowe’s store in Carthage, would be at the home Saturday morning to do landscaping work on the front and back yards.
Volunteers from Frito Lay will come sometime in the next few days to build a shed in the back yard.
“A lot of people have really come through to get this done,” Clayton said.
He said next Friday’s ceremony will include a prayer of blessing by a local pastor who will also present the family with a bible.
“Then we’ll present her with the keys,” Clayton said. “We want the people who were involved and even people who were not involved to come out and tell Lori and her family welcome to their new home.”
