JOPLIN, Mo. —
A quick drive on Missouri Highway 171 near the Joplin Regional Airport tells you all you need to know.
Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile homes on the south side of the highway testify to the fact that three months after the May 22 tornado, many people in Joplin remain in need of permanent housing.
That’s one of the reasons folks with Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity are trying to drum up business. The organization, made up almost entirely of volunteers, builds safe, affordable houses for qualified applicants.
Normally, the group builds three to four homes a year, but donations and pledges of support in the wake of the tornado have given the organization hope that in the next few months, construction on many more homes can begin. The goal is to provide some permanent, quality housing for families that lost their homes in the storm. The problem, so far, has been finding those families.
On Tuesday, Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity put on an informational session at Mount Hope Church of Christ, 2830 Mount Hope Road, in Webb City. The meeting allowed people in need of housing to meet with Habitat for Humanity representatives and volunteers to learn if they might qualify for housing assistance. At the end of the nearly 4 1/2-hour session, four families had dropped by.
Julie Maus, a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, said there are several reasons for the less-than-robust response. Many people, she said, automatically assume that they don’t qualify for Habitat homes, and others just haven’t considered Habitat as a possible resource.
“And others see it (a Habitat home) as a handout and may be reluctant to accept a handout,” she said.
In fact, Maus said, a Habitat home is not a handout. People who are selected must be able to pay for their homes in the form of monthly mortgage payments. Habitat for Humanity provides a no-interest, 20-year loan to recipients, and the loan must be paid off. As part of the application procedure, Habitat volunteers work to ensure that people are not placed in a home they can’t afford.
As for the application steps, Maus said some people might be surprised to find that they do qualify.
The neat thing about Habitat for Humanity homes is that they are built almost entirely by volunteers using materials that have been provided almost entirely via donations. That helps keep the homes affordable.
Since the tornado, Maus said, Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity has been inundated with donations of cash and supplies. Offers of assistance have come into the Joplin office from all over the country, and the group is eager to take advantage of those offers and get families into homes.
“We know there are qualified families out there,” Maus said. “We just need to connect with them.”
More informational sessions are set for 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday at Mount Hope Church of Christ.
Anyone with questions about a Habitat home may attend the meetings. If you can’t make the meetings, you may call the Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity office at 417-782-6533 or visit its website at www.joplinhabitat.org and fill out an application online.
Tornado: Mike Pound
Mike Pound: Joplin Habitat looking for eligible families
- Tornado: Mike Pound
-
-
Mike Pound: Saying nice things about St. John’s folks is easy
Francis Williams called me Wednesday morning and told me she reads my column “most every day.” I then waited for her next sentence, which usually goes something like this: “And I think you are a moron.”
-
Mike Pound: Joplin Habitat looking for eligible families
A quick drive on Missouri Highway 171 near the Joplin Regional Airport tells you all you need to know.
-
Mike Pound: Woman’s effort snags scrubs for Joplin
It was an idea so simple and so obvious that it makes people slap their head and say “Why didn’t I think of that?”
-
Mike Pound: Veterans bearing gifts coming to Joplin
Robert Marrone told me that a planned trip to Joplin by a group of veterans from California University of Pennsylvania is just another way for them to give back to the community.
-
Mike Pound: Minot, N.D. needs Joplin’s support, too
I tend to go through life without thinking. Or without thinking too much. I always felt that deep thinking was for folks ... well for folks who were deep thinkers. I tend to be a shallow thinker.
-
Mike Pound: Winning teams in place before the tornado struck
We don’t have many big meetings here in the newsroom. I think, in part, that’s because nobody wants to spend much time in a room full of newspaper people. That’s what I think.
-
Mike Pound: Group comes together for mother, child
The women all knew each other but they didn’t know each other well. They grew up in the same town, and they graduated from the same high school, but because of their slight age differences none of them were ever close friends.
-
Mike Pound: There is no stopping the St. Mary’s backers
For a woman who is raising some serious cash, Tracey Welch doesn’t like to talk much about money. In response to a question this week about how close she and the other folks raising money for St. Mary’s Catholic Elementary School were to Tracey’s $25,000 goal, she sort of dodged the question.
-
Mike Pound: Mother of storm victims getting by ‘day by day’
“Are you sleeping at night?” Crystal Whitely pondered the question posed to her for a second. Then, through a tight smile, she said, “No, not really. I don’t know if I will ever sleep like I used to.”
-
Mike Pound: How can we thank all those who have helped Joplin?
I sort of got a problem. It’s a nice problem, but a problem nonetheless. The problem is I can’t keep up with all of the nice things folks have been doing for Joplin. I’m not the only one having that problem.
- More Tornado: Mike Pound Headlines
-
Mike Pound: Saying nice things about St. John’s folks is easy
Raw: Baby White Rhino Debuts at Australian Zoo
Time Lapse: Rebuilding Bridge Post-collapse
Ohio Woman Accuses 3 of Holding Her Captive
Hunt for Ex-Teamster Boss Hoffa's Remains Ends
Aug. Trial Set for Ohio Man in Triple Kidnapping
Car Crash in NYC's East Village Injures 8
Obama Renews Call for Nuclear Reductions
Raw: Car Jumps Curb in NYC, Injures 8
Unusual Heat Wave Bakes Alaska
Raw: German President Welcomes President Obama
Raw: Arizona Wildfire Scorches 8 Square Miles
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Kid Couture: Spending Big Bucks on Babies
