Since 2001, the Nativity Knights of Columbus Father Sikora Council #7992 and Nativity Parish, in partnership with the Appalachian Construction Crew, Inc—a Christian non-profit organization—have built 25 homes for families living below the poverty level in the heart of Appalachia. With your help, we have been able to build a 26th home for a family in need!
THANK YOU!
On behalf of the Knights of Columbus, the Appalachian Construction Crew of Omaha, NE, and the Perry family of two, 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 $130,000, not including a truck load of household items provided by the Nativity family. With slightly over $10,000 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 Perry family clearly had some challenges. The family had an income of $20,500 and lived in a bedroom of the father’s parent’s home. This was the 26th home where Nativity and the Knights partnered with the Appalachian Construction Crew.
From May 29th to Jun 10th, the combined crews were able to complete the home with two of those days dedicated to travel. The Nativity crew was composed of 19 knights; Omaha sponsored 11 that included a support crew to help with feeding the Crew. Weather was ideal during the first three days and it rained intermittently every day for the next 7 days. Notwithstanding the weather, with the larger crew, we were able to finish the home a day earlier. 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 Carlos of Kentucky. After three years with Covid challenges, we re-started the tradition of having the family over for dinner with the entire crew and presented the father, Blake, with the keys to his new home. We also told them of all the household items that we brought from Nativity. The family was overwhelmed with the outpouring of help and the caring from the Nativity family. Blake was in tears and thanked everyone and Blake’s mom expressed her sincere thanks on how the new home would change the lives of Blake and his son, Elijah. They also made the effort to personally thank everyone.
On Wednesday morning, the first crew departed, and the finishing crew took over. From Wednesday through Sunday, our Nativity finishing crew of eight, with Omaha’s three, 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 Monday. All final inspections were completed by June 19th, and appliances and new beds provided by Nativity were delivered soon after. The family will move in before the end of June.
May God bless you all for your caring and generosity!
