Habitat chapter completes Manville project

Families set to move in

By:Emily Craighead
   The Dixon/Abner and Jeffrey/Hall families came home for the first time Saturday.
   Those two families are soon to be the proud owners of houses on Roosevelt Avenue built with the help of the Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity and numerous other sponsors.
   "You can live there in contentment with your children, without fear/In a home that’s built to last throughout the years," sang two volunteers at the house dedication ceremony Saturday morning.
   About 90 volunteers and community members attended the dedication. Speeches and prayers were offered by Manville Borough Council President Ted Petrock, KMC Telecom President Hal Kamine, and clergy from Trinity United Church in Warren, Immaculate Conception in Somerville and St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Bridgewater.
   Melissa Palfry, project coordinator at the Somerset County Community Development Office also came to the dedication.
   "It was a nice experience to see a program the county helps fund come to fruition," Ms. Palfry said.
   Somerset County provided a $125,000 to acquire the land, using part of the funds from $778,000 in grants received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for its HOME Investment Partnership Program in 2004.
   At the ceremony the families received gifts of a Bible, a good luck basket and a home maintenance manual to assist them as they begin life in their new homes.
   There are a few more papers to be signed before the families actually move into the houses.
   Pam Ely, executive director of the Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity, stressed that Habitat is not giving the houses away.
   Habitat sells the families the houses for $80,000, and the families receive a loan from the organization to help cover the initial cost. Members of the Dixon/Abner and Jeffrey/Hall families also spent many hours working to build the house themselves.
   In a phone interview Tuesday, Ms. Ely also thanked Manville officials for their help in the process of building the houses.
   "The Manville officials and staff were fabulous in helping us," she said. "The Planning Board people were tremendous. We’re grateful for how efficient and helpful they were."
   The duplex on Roosevelt Avenue is the first Habitat project in Manville.