Clif Knight

Hartselle Enquirer

A Decatur mother and her disabled daughter will be moving into their first home soon thanks to two teams of Hartselle Utilities employees and other volunteers who constructed exterior and interior walls and added roof trusses and decking last week.

A project of Habitat for Humanity of Morgan County, the three-bedroom, two-bath frame house is located at 319 Denver Place. It is being built for Kathleen Gilliam and daughter Alisha.

A team of 10 HU employees worked on the Habitat for Humanity house Thur., Sept. 24. Starting with a concrete slab, they erected outside and inside walls. A second team of nine employees returned the following day to install roof trusses, decking and tar paper.

“Originally, we signed up to work on a United Way Day of Caring project,” said HU General Manager Bob Sittason. “When we learned it was overbooked, we looked for another project and were invited to help on the Habitat for Humanity project.”

“Our employees work well together,” Sittason said, “and we were able to meet or exceed our goals. It left us with a good feeling to know that we were able to help a deserving person own her own home.”

“We were fortunate to have these two teams come and help,” said Mindy Twing, Habitat for Humanity executive director.  They are talented and take great pride in their work.

“We ask our volunteers to be on the job site at 8 a.m.,” she added.  HU volunteers were there and ready to go to work at 7:30 a.m.

Thanks to their productivity, we easily met our goal of having the roof ready for shingles at the end of the week,” she said.

Twing said the house at 319 Denver Place is the forth to be built in Decatur and Somerville in 2015.

She also pointed out that Habitat is constructing a stick built house on site at Ascend. It will be moved to a permanent site when completed.