CRESTVIEW — A year ago, when ChanDrieka Robinson received her qualification letter from Okaloosa County Habitat for Humanity, it “was the best Christmas gift ever,” she said.
Now, she is preparing to move her children — Dejah, 10, David, 9, Joelle, 7, and Jaelah, 4 — into their new Lee Avenue residence.
The Robinsons received keys to their Habitat for Humanity house on Monday. The big day followed more than 3,500 hours of labor and the efforts of 600 volunteers, including Robinson and her kids.
'IT CAME UP FAST'
Volunteers included college students in town for spring break, soldiers from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), and airmen from Hurlburt, Duke and Eglin Air Force Bases, construction manager Bob Hauge said.
“It came up fast when the college kids came down,” Hauge said.
After they helped raise walls, Hauge said he tried to release the students to let them get a little beach time in during their week off. But it was the same day the roof trusses arrived.
“They said, ‘Let us please put these things up,’” Hauge said, so he relented and the students completed framing the house.
As for the oldest volunteer, Roger Budd, 92, “We had to keep him from working up on the roof,” construction manager Bill Prescott said, joking.
LEARNING NEW SKILLS
Robinson thanked Hauge and Prescott for teaching her some of their carpentry skills. Those tip will be useful as she helps other Habitat partner families build their homes, she said.
During a brief dedication ceremony, volunteers presented the Robinsons with housewarming gifts, including a Bible, furnishings and a hand-stitched sampler made for the family by the Sand Dunes Chapter of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America.
At the close of the dedication ceremony, the Rev. Catherine Parks, the Robinsons' pastor at Unity Pentecostal Church of God in Crestview, offered benediction.
“We will reach out to those in need of adequate shelter with our hammers in our hands, love in our hearts and the knowledge that with God, all things are possible,” she said.
“Then we will rejoice together.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'Best Christmas gift': Mother of 4 receives keys to Habitat for Humanity home (VIDEO)