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Home #5
Baldwin Lake - 2010
Wagner Home Dedication Habitat is about celebration. We celebrate a human need and thankfulness in the act of community spirit and giving. This was evident on With the Wagner home finished in June 2007 the family moved in immediately. The dedication of the home was held in October, having been postponed during the Butler II fire. Those present at the dedication were able to tour the house and see what a warm and friendly home the Wagners have established. Throughout the process the Wagners have repeatedly expressed their appreciation for this opportunity to help build and buy their own home. Introducing the Wagners—Our Newest Homeowners! Habitat for Humanity is proud to present our newest partner family, the Wagners. Dave and Serina are the parents of Isaiah, age 7, and Isabell, 16 months. In addition, Serina’s niece Elicia, age 11, and nephew Anthony, age 9, are often with the family, having lost their father a few years ago. Dave is employed by the Public Works Department for the City of Big Bear Lake and has been busy driving a snow plow during winter storms. When Serina is not busy with the children, she works as a housekeeper for a few families and sells Mary Kay products. Both are active in their church. Dave is a 28 year resident of Big Bear, and Serina has lived here almost 19 years. The Wagners were chosen from a field of many applicants to partner with the Big Bear Valley Habitat for Humanity affiliate in the spring of 2006. Each family is required to contribute at least 500 hours of “sweat equity” in the building of their home. Dave and Serina far surpassed that requirement with over 890 hours contributed, which included help from friends and relatives. Isaiah contributed by drawing many pictures for Habitat volunteers to thank them. We wish the Wagner family all the best in the future HOME #2 Big Bear City - 2004The Higgins Family Comes Home Tears come to his eyes as Steve Higgins recalls a recent conversation with his oldest son. They were standing in the living room of their new home just a couple of weeks after taking possession of the property. Anthony seemed to be in a daze, as if not quite believing where he was. Steve asked what was wrong. "He goes, 'Dad, I just can't help, thinking we're going to have to go home tomorrow,'" Higgins said. "I asked him what he meant, and he said he felt like he was at someone else's house."  To the Higgins family—Steve, Anthony and Aaron—owning a house was a dream, not a reality. For 10 years they lived in a small rental in Big Bear City. Anthony and Aaron shared a room. But just before Christmas 2003, the Higgins family's dream house came true with the assistance of the Big Bear Valley chapter of Habitat for Humanity. This past Saturday, Jan. 17, friends and neighbors gathered at the home for a special dedication ceremony, celebrating the completion of the two-year project. "The way I look at it is, the way my life was going, I had nothing to pass on to my children," Higgins said. "These people gave me something to give my kids, and my kids' kids. It's just amazing, an amazing thing." This is the second house that Habitat for Humanity has built in the community. Members of the local chapter stress that this is not a give-away program. Partner families invest hundreds of hours of their own labor during the construction phase. And, their monthly mortgage payments go into a revolving fund, used to build more houses. Additional funding comes from tax-deductible donations of money and materials. Volunteers provide much of the house-building labor.
 Construction was a snap for the Higgins family. In fact, Steve works in light construction for a living. He put in many extra hours beyond what was, required in seeing his first home become a reality. The house has a roomy kitchen and living room, two bathrooms and three bedrooms. Aaron and Anthony no longer have to share their private space. "I'm just really happy to finally have my own room with a door," Anthony said with a laugh. "To have our own house, I really feel lucky." ~ Kathy Porte, Big Bear Grizzly, January 21, 2004 HOME #1Lake Williams - 2001
Habitat for Humanity picks family for its Big Bear home
BIG BEAR CITY — Kathy Gunn never dreamed she would someday build her own home. Now that she has, all she can say is "yippee." Gunn and her two daughters were chosen to occupy and own the first home built by the Big Bear Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The family has spent the last nine months working along side more than 100 volunteers to finish the 1,100 square-foot home outside Big Bear City in the Lake Williams area.  "I am ecstatic," said Gunn, who was joined by her daughters, chapter members and volunteers Saturday to dedicate the house. It is the first completed project for the new local Habitat chapter, the first in the San Bernardino Mountain communities. The national organization was formed 25 years ago to build and rehabilitate houses. "I liked the program so much because it is not a hand out, but a hand up," said Bob Barrett, who founded the chapter with wife Barbara in 1999, after learning about the organization at his Rotary Club. "It empowers people who deserve to own their own home, but just can't quite do it on their own,'' Barrett said. Gunn was chosen from nine applicants to receive the house. "I did every kind of work a woman could do," said the single mother of three. Gunn works three jobs to make ends meet, but said she still found time to participate even before she knew she had been chosen. "It is a good cause to get involved with," said Gunn. The three bedroom, two bathroom house was planned and 60 percent completed before Gunn starting working on it. "But they let me pick the color scheme, the curtains, linoleum and carpet." And that was "fun." In addition to working on the house, Gunn had to be employed, show capability to make a mortgage payment. "They look at my circumstances and my finances, then tailor the payment so it fits into my budget," Gunn said. Her mortgage payments will be put into an account to pay for the next home project. "Every time we build a home, the mortgage payment goes to build another. The more we build, the more we can build. That is why this first house is such an achievement for us," Barrett said. More than 50 companies and over 100 volunteers contributed to the home, which was dedicated during the celebration to former Redlands Federal Bank,, manager Ed Curtis. Curtis was instrumental in persuading the bank to donate the land for the house. Local real estate agent Rusty Barnes has donated property for the next project, and the group plans to break ground there next month. ~ JENNIFER DOBBS, Correspondent, The Sun — San Bernardino County, July 29, 2001 |
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