From staff reports
news@joplinglobe.com
For the first time on Thursday, Betty Geary, 73, of rural Newton County, saw her new home.
The house was built to replace the one a tornado destroyed May 10 at the junction of Iris Road and Highway 43. It was a house that was built with generosity.
Geary’s 1,600-square-foot home was built entirely by members of the Home Builders Association of Southwest Missouri and with materials donated by 80 companies. Construction started in the summer. It is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home.
Geary has lived on the 140-acre farm where the house sits since 1962. Her son and daughter-in-law also live on the property. The homes and barns of all of them were destroyed by the tornado, and none of them had insurance on the buildings.
Geary received only $28,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency money to replace the buildings.
The group decided to take on Geary’s project because Tom Mayberry, head of Mayberry Construction Co., lives nearby and goes to church with Geary. He took her plight to the group, and it took one meeting with Geary for the board to vote unanimously to take on the project.
Past projects
The Home Builders Association of Southwest Missouri has donated labor and materials for past charitable projects, including the Ronald McDonald House and Habitat for Humanity.
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Newton County woman receives new home
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