'Oh give me a home …'

Harbor Church is located on Persifer Street in Folsom. It has been our church home for the past seven years. Most recently, the old library, now gone, used to sit next to it at the corner of Persifer and Coloma. For a while, that lot sat empty. However, you will now notice a new development going up there. Precisely, 10 housing units sponsored by Habitat for Humanity are quickly coming together on that once-empty lot. This fine organization is a large-hearted nonprofit with a wide presence to provide affordable housing. They do not provide a handout. The new owners of these Folsom homes must each provide 500 hours of "sweat equity" toward their homes, whose mortgages are adjusted to better suit lower incomes. As the Telegraph recently reported, "Each family has completed homeownership counseling and will pay closing costs before moving in." Last Saturday, they sponsored a "Women Build 2025" work day. My own skilled and caring painter, Carol, gave eight hours to the task, often on a ladder. They say the easiest job becomes more difficult when you do it with reluctance. By the same token, a difficult job becomes easier when you do it with enthusiasm. Carol was enthusiastic. This project surely is a positive step in our community, especially for the 10 families included. It is refreshing to hear such good news for a change. I once read the only place where "success" comes before "work" is in the dictionary. Last week, I wrote about jobs and how we can trace our life story through the various jobs we have held. We can do the same thing tracing the various houses we have lived in. Not counting the college dorm, I have lived in 14 houses or apartments. Three were church parsonages, one was a new home. I know of both extremes – someone who lived in the same house their entire life, and someone who lost count of all the places they lived. Often, those who lived in so many places were in the military. Someone said to the little girl as her family tried to find new housing, "I am sorry you do not have a home." She corrected, "Oh we have a home, we just don't have a house to put it in." I hope 10 families now have a new place to live and a new lease (or mortgage, that is) on life. Tom Rupp is a Folsom resident and weekly Telegraph columnist. You can reach him at truppfolsom@yahoo.com.