Habitat for Humanity raises walls on 13th home

MOSES LAKE - The holidays will be especially memorable this year for Alexandra Colin and her family.

Colin, her three children Damian, 14; Adrian, 12 and Daisy, 8, and her mother, Graciela, will all get to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's in a brand new home - a home they're pitching in to help build.

The four-bedroom, two-bathroom house off Patton Boulevard is the 13th home Habitat for Humanity of Greater Moses Lake has built in the area. The organization helps families own homes by allowing them to purchase their homes at cost with no profit, no interest loans.

For Colin, the new home couldn't come at a better time. Colin's mother has multiple myeloma, a cancer that typically causes bone pain for patients.

As a result, it's sometimes difficult for her mother to get around, she said. And because she wants to be her mother's primary caregiver, Colin said her family needs to live in a home that has enough room for her to do that.

Living in an upstairs apartment for example wouldn't work, she said. Colin eventually applied for housing with Habitat for Humanity and was relieved when they told her they wanted to help.

"I'm just very, very thankful they are giving me this opportunity," she said. "This will give me a peace of mind knowing she can stay with me."

One of the features of the new house is a wide wheelchair ramp. Although her mother doesn't use a wheelchair right now, Colin said it could be a possibility later on.

Habitat Building Manager Terry Hall said the new home should be completed around Thanksgiving.

"We want to get them in sometime around there, and we're making good progress," he said.

The exterior walls went up Thursday afternoon, meaning volunteers can now get to work on the inside of the house, Hall said.