Franklin Co. Habitat Holding Roof Raising Saturday

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

Franklin County Habitat for Humanity is gearing up for the next phase of their plan to build a row of new homes in Lavonia.

The group is planning a roof raising event on Saturday for its seventh house located on Rainbow Drive in Lavonia.

According to Franklin County Habitat Executive Director Cathy Wood, work has been going on at the Rainbow Drive address for the past couple of weeks.

“We have now cleaned up the debris from the houses we have knocked down,” said Wood. “We have eliminated three of the houses on Rainbow Drive and the 28th is a day we plan to have our roof raising. It will begin at 8 o’clock and we will continue until the house is dried in. It is the most exciting time of building a Habitat home.”

Wood said volunteers and crews will work until the house is dried in that Saturday.

Last year, Franklin County Habitat for Humanity purchased all four of the older homes on Rainbow Drive from the Vandiver family with a view towards tearing them down and building four new Habitat homes and Wood said this time, Habitat also plans to have this first of the four new houses ready sooner than they normally do.

“Normally it takes us about six months to build a new home,” said Wood. “I have given my project manager a bit of a challenge. We have so many people looking to get on board, I have crunched it into five months so hopefully we will have this house completed in five months.”

According to Wood, a young family will be getting the three-bedroom, two-bath house on Rainbow Drive.

She said the couple has been waiting a long time to own a home of their own.

Once this house is completed, Franklin County Habitat for Humanity will begin raising money to build the next house on Rainbow Drive.