Five days, three homes, hundreds of volunteers: a look at Habitat for Humanity in action

In five short days, the corner of K Street SW in Cedar Rapids changed drastically.

Three empty lots left bare since the Flood of 2008 turned into three homes, seemingly in the blink of an eye. But, despite how it may seem, they didn't appear from nowhere.

At least 200 volunteers — including members of Habitat for Humanity, the Greater Cedar Rapids Area Home Builders Association, AmeriCorps and others — built the homes for three Cedar Rapids families who needed a 'hand up' to homeownership last week. The quick build was part of Habitat's national homebuilders blitz, in which 250 families in 31 states received Habitat homes by the end of the week.

This is the third homebuilders blitz in Cedar Rapids since 2012, this time featured by Habitat for Humanity International and sponsored by Ply Gem, a North Carolina-based manufacturer of building products, who donated $1 million in housing materials such as siding and windows to the national project. Other sponsors include the City of Cedar Rapids, Linn County and the Housing Fund for Linn County. Ahmann Design created the house plans and the local Homebuilders Association recruited area professionals to volunteer their time, manpower and knowledge, including lead builders Jim and Joe Sattler of Jim Sattler Custom Homes and Sattler Homes and Remodeling, Nathan Caraway of the Nathan Caraway Company and Dave Becicka of Elite Custom Builders.

'It's important to give more than you receive,' Caraway said.

'It's giving back to people who need a hand up, helping people get housing they can afford for the rest of their lives,' Jim Sattler added.

The biggest challenge to building three homes in five days is the 'intense amount of preplanning and logistical coordination,' Caraway said.

Good thing, then, that Habitat started planning in July of last year, said Jeff Capps, executive director of Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity.

In order to build a home that might normally take months to build in five days, builders needed to line up volunteers and donated material, as well as follow a rigid schedule. The event was scheduled 'down to the hour,' Capps said.

'I've overcome some pretty heavy deadlines, but this is definitely one of the heaviest,' Caraway said.

Foundation was laid before they started framing on Monday, June 6 at 7 a.m. In less than 12 hours, the shell of a home had already formed.

The rest of the week was a flurry of construction — electrical, plumbing, heating, drywall, insulation, roofing, siding, decks, paint, cabinets, vinyl flooring and carpet. Finally, on Friday, volunteers put the finishing touches on the home: landscaping, clean up and a final inspection before the grand finale, the home dedication.

Three families from Cedar Rapids, each with their own set of circumstances that led them to Habitat, received the keys to their homes on Friday afternoon. They'll pay a 0 percent interest mortgage for their new homes. 

Mushabah Alfani and Maria Katando and their four children, for example, have come a long way to earn their home. In addition to hundreds of hours of 'sweat equity' — Habitat requires future owners volunteer in the community to earn a home — the Alfani/Katando family spent 14 years in a refugee camp in Zambia after fleeing from the war in Congo in 1998.

Alfani narrowly escaped being killed and had to leave without his wife and two children, who he believed had been killed along with his entire village when it had been burned to the ground in 1996. Alfani recently discovered his two children are still alive, but his mother, father, two brothers, sister and wife are confirmed dead.

While living in Zambia, Alfani met Katando — who also lost her family, either to war or illness. They married and had four children, eventually moving to the U.S. in 2012 — first to Ohio, then Cedar Rapids in 2014. At first, the family of six didn't have a place to live, staying in a church. Now they rent a small apartment but desire a more stable home for their family.

'If you have a house, all your problems will go behind,' Alfani said through his 15-year-old son, who was translating. But Alfani wasn't sure how he'd get a house. His English is very limited and he doesn't have a lot of money. But his English as a second language teacher at the Catherine McAuley Center, Alice McCabe, led him to Habitat. 'They don't care if you're rich ... All people are the same, equal,' Alfani said of Habitat. 'They don't care about which place you came from. They love people.'

Ida and Gary Laetare received their habitat home in a blitz build two years ago. The home was a huge upgrade from the tiny 700 square foot mobile home the couple shared with their two sons.

'Before we applied to Habitat, we felt hopeless,' Ida said. 'We knew our home wasn't going to last much longer.'

In fact, just six months after they moved into the habitat home, the mobile home caught fire.

'Had it not been for Habitat, we would have been homeless,' Ida said through tears.

Now, after two years in the home, Ida, who is legally blind, is working with the Iowa Department of the Blind to start her own business. She is also in the process of writing five books, she said, attributing her success to the 'confidence that Habitat has given (her).'

'It can change a person's life,' she said. 'It can change their hopes and dreams.'