Building a place called home
Habitat for Humanity volunteers construct third house

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — JoAnn Benenati is hoping by next Thanksgiving the Thompson family of Churchrock will be the Thompson family of Gallup.

Benenati is the president of Habitat for Humanity of Gallup, and Harry and Emma Thompson, along with their children, are the most recent local family to partner with Habitat to build a home in Gallup. Habitat and the Thompsons are building a modest home on a rocky hillside on the north side of tow

And is always the case with Habitat in Gallup, the nonprofit, all-volunteer organization is in need of more charitable donations and more volunteers — skilled and unskilled workers and also behind-the-scenes organizers — to get the house moving along at a quicker pace before severe weather arrives for the winter. Licensed contractors are also needed to donate their expertise for various projects along the construction process.

Volunteers are particularly needed this Saturday — even though it’s a holiday weekend — to help raise the walls, said Benenati in a recent interview. About 59 structural insulated panels that will fit together to form the house’s exterior walls were delivered to the site last week, she explained, and those SIPs need to be put together and erected on Saturday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Volunteers who don’t feel up to the task of helping with the manual labor are welcome to help with Habitat’s yard sale.

Each week, Benenati explained, the organization sells new and “gently used” home building materials and fixtures in a yard sale on the home building site, which is located at 416 E. Wilson St. Community members who have unneeded building materials and fixtures are welcome to donate the items to Habitat to help finance this latest home building project.

This is the third home Habitat for Humanity has built in Gallup, and also the third built on the city’s north side. According to Benenati, the Thompsons’ 1,300-square-foot, four-bedroom home is similar in design and construction as the second home.

“We started with that floor plan, but we’ve made a few adjustments to it,” she said. Both homes have foam core SIPs for their exterior walls, which provide superior insulation for both cold and hot weather temperatures.

Because of that construction, Benenati said the homeowner of the second Habitat home has reported that her heating and cooling utility bills haven’t exceeded $30 a month.

Families chosen to be partner families with Habitat for Humanity must be low income, working families who currently live in substandard housing. They must invest hundreds of “sweat equity” hours working on a Habitat home building site — their own or another partner family’s site — and they purchase their home through a no-interest mortgage payment program.

“The family is very pleasant, very hardworking,” Benenati said of the Thompsons. At least one member of the family works on the house every weekend, she added.

Benenati is hoping the Thompson family will be able to move into the house by summer. “If our money holds out,” she said, “we’ll get it done this summer.”

However, Benenati said, Habitat’s bank account is very low. Habitat volunteers are hoping to improve the financial situation through upcoming fundraising efforts. Benenati is also hoping more local churches will consider ways they can help support the work of Habitat in Gallup.

Schoolchildren at Roosevelt Elementary have already adopted Habitat as one of their projects. The entire school is raising $750 to sponsor the Thompson’s front porch.

Benenati said her top four wishes for the project — in no particular order — would be more volunteers, prayers, money, and contractors willing to help. “I think if we had those,” she said, “everything would fall into place.”

In addition to Benenati, local builder Chris Chavez, who serves on Habitat’s board, is in charge of pulling all the required building permits. Bill Bright is the project manager, Glynda Samford is the board secretary, and Audrey Schuurmann is the treasurer. More volunteers are welcome to join working committees.

“I just love the work they’re doing,” said Benenati of Habitat volunteers. “You really do get a lot of rewards being involved in it,” she added.

Financial donations can be mailed to Habitat for Humanity of Gallup, P.O. Box 1777, Gallup, N.M. 87305. Donations of food and beverages for Saturday workers can always be dropped off at the work site each Saturday between 9 a.m. and noon.

Information about donating: Bill Bright, 722-0039.