Thank you, Nativity!
On behalf of the Knights of Columbus, the Appalachian Construction Crew of Omaha, NE, and the Stephens family of six, we want to thank the Nativity family for their tremendous outpouring of support that made this home building effort possible. With the combined donations from Nativity, the Knights, and personal donations, our contributions totaled over $85,000, not including a truck load of household items provided by the Nativity family. With slightly over $8,000 raised from Omaha, the combined crews were able to again build a home for a very needy family. Good Shepherd Chapel selected the family. The Stephens family clearly had some challenges. The family had a combined income of around $22,000 and lived in a trailer with significant mold, leaks, and limited bathroom facilities. This was the 23rd home where Nativity and the Knights partnered with the Appalachian Construction Crew.
Still dealing with Covid challenges, we kept protocols in place for the safety of the crew. With our smallest crew in recent years from all of our volunteer groups, we had two weeks to complete the build… our second 4-bedroom home. From Jun 2-15, the combined crews were able to complete the home with two of those days dedicated to travel. The Nativity crew was composed of 17 knights; Omaha sponsored 10 that included a support crew to help with feeding the Crew. With rain on 9 of the 12 days, the smaller crew was working 12+ hour days to complete the build on time. Local electrical, heating/air conditioning, and plumbing contractors worked at night to ensure the home was ready for critical inspections. Early Tuesday, we completed hanging all the sheetrock and applied the first coat on most of the joints and cleaned up the site for the house blessing. Literally, we completed all this work, exterior construction and interior rough-in, in 5 ½ days. We had the house blessing on Tuesday afternoon led by Father Jay of Kentucky. Due to Covid, we presented the keys to the family at the house blessing and told them of all the household items that we brought from Nativity rather than present the items at our normal family dinner. The family was overwhelmed with the outpouring of help and the caring from the Nativity family. April and Randy, the parents, were in tears when they received the keys and both spoke on how their new home would change their lives and they made the effort to personally thank everyone.
On Wednesday morning, the first crew departed, and the finishing crew took over. From Wednesday thru Monday, our Nativity finishing crew of five, with Omaha’s one, stayed to do all the finishing. The finishing team completed all the drywall finishing, painting, hanging doors, trimming, and installing kitchen cabinets. The finishing crew left on Tuesday. All final inspections were completed by June 29th, and appliances and new beds provided by Nativity were delivered on Jun 30th. The family moved in on July 1st.
May God bless you all for your caring and generosity. Please refer any questions to Bob Corsi, 703-239-2890, bobcorsi@cox.net.
