Volunteers and donors organized by the Great Falls Ecumenical Council who built a townhouse in Fairfax celebrated Sunday with the family who will live there.
“I feel loved by God,” said Yeon Hi Parker, the resident who will move into the “Habitat for Humanity” townhouse on Aug. 1.
“Now I can take good care of my family and my two children in this beautiful house.”
She helped build the structure, part of the first phase of a development that began 18 months ago on Stevenson Street in Fairfax.
Volunteers from seven churches in the Ecumenical Council in Great Falls provided hands-on labor, money and food as the structure progressed. It set the pace for other townhouses under construction in the same block.
At a celebration Sunday at Christ the King Lutheran Church, pastor Paul Gysan dressed as “VIP the Clown” to demonstrate in mime how the house was built.
When VIP tried to construct the house by himself, it collapsed.
Then he consulted the Bible, and asked the churches for help.
As representatives from churches came forward to help hold up the boards, the house stood up.
Then, Parker came and stood in the “house.”
Project coordinator Bonnie Anderson thanked the volunteers by name and acknowledged each of the churches that participated.
She said the project was originally posed as a “challenge” to the Ecumenical Council by Bob Friend, then the rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church and now the pastor of a church in Richmond.
Although the Ecumenical Council has existed since the 1950s and done many good works, Anderson said, nothing so ambitious — or expensive — had previously been attempted.
Cost of the Great Falls group’s share of the house was about $85,000.
In a “reverse offering” at the Sunday service at Christ the King Lutheran Church, collection plates were passed among the congregation. Instead of giving money, each volunteer took a hand-made cookie dough ornament commemorating the Habitat project.
Then the volunteers, and the new resident, Parker and her son, Chris, celebrated with a hot dog dinner in the church hall. The hot dogs were donated by Costco.
Local restaurants that provided meals for the volunteers who worked at the house site in Fairfax were: A La Belle Cuisine, Arby’s, Blue Oasis Cafe, Chez Francois L’Auberge, Dante Ristorante, Deli Italiano, Domino’s Pizza, Gilettes Coffee, Kabob Place, King Creole Catering, Le Grand Appetit, Le Relais, Old Brogue Irish Pub, Peking Delight, Romantica Deli and Pizzeria, and The Tavern at Great Falls.
Money was donated by the Great Falls Lions Club, Home & Community, Great Falls Optimist Club, Brogue Charities, Great Falls Woman’s Club, the Great Falls Citizens Association, and Amadeus Concerts Inc. The Lutheran Brotherhood donated a grant for furnishings.
Businesses that participated were Mega Watt, The Jewelry Shop, Adams Mill Veterinary Hospital, RIV Construction Group, and Dr. Glenn Loebig.
Churches and their representatives are: Andrew Chapel United Methodist Church, Martha Thomas; Christ the King Lutheran Church, Bonnie Anderson; Dranesville Church of the Brethren, Steve Evick; Great Falls United Methodist, Mary Anger; Smith’s Chapel United Methodist Church, Glenn Sjoblom; St. Catherine of Siena Catholic, Deeda Calderazzo, and St. Francis Episcopal Church, Tim Heil.
Food for the celebration was donated by Costco, Great Falls 7-Eleven and the Aid Association for Lutherans. Janet Lutz was the picnic coordinator, and the Great Falls Lions provided a tent.