Job Corps students help provide new Moses Lake home

MOSES LAKE - Over the years, Columbia Basin Job Corps students have pitched in to help Habitat for Humanity build new homes for Moses Lake families.

Students from the carpentry, painting and cement and plastering trades have worked on each of the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Moses Lake's projects, Job Corps community liaison Susan Mann said.

"They literally help build the houses from the ground up," she said. "They work on the foundation and framework, and paint and plaster."

Mann said students work on virtually all stages of the home building process, pretty much everything except plumbing and electrical work.

They work alongside other Habitat volunteers and the family who will be receiving the new home, she said. And while students are gaining valuable hands-on training throughout the building process, Mann said it's seeing the finished product that gives them the most joy.

"Seeing the completed house is always the most exciting for them," she said. "Like today, they're walking around and showing off the sections of the house they worked on- they're just really proud."

About 60 Job Corps students were at Habitat's latest work site recently to celebrate the completion of the organization's twelfth Moses Lake home.

Work on the five-bedroom, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant home began last September, Habitat Building Manager Terry Hall said. Having Job Corps students help out with Habitat projects is a huge help for the organization, he said.

"The students supplied about 99 percent of the labor for this home," Hall commented. That's good news for Habitat, because they rely on volunteers to build each home, he said.

And Hall said this home, at just over 1,500 square feet, is the largest home the organization has built in Moses Lake so far.

"The students worked here Monday through Friday, about six hours a day," said Hall. "We had anywhere from six to 20 students here at a time."

Job Corps students collectively spent about 250 hours working on the house each week, he said. Hall said he estimates that students must have spent thousands of hours at the work site by the end of the project.

"That's huge," he said. "That's a big deal because we're talking about donated labor and skills."

Job Corps instructor Tim Mitchell said he is glad students get to help Habitat build their homes.

"It's excellent training for the students, it's real-life experience," he said. "Then when they're done, they get to see how they helped build an entire house for a family."

Hall said the house is practically move-in ready. The Roloff family is expected to get the keys to their new home by the end of this month at the earliest, he said.

Tammy Roloff said her family's new house couldn't come at a better time.

"We moved to Moses Lake about 15 years ago, and we outgrew our current home about eight years ago," she said.

The Roloff family consists of Tammy, her husband Darrel and their children Tyler, Jacob, Angel and Alyzebeth. Tyler is 19 and Alyzebeth is 3, she said.

"Right now, everyone is sharing a room and it's just cramped," Roloff commented. "We're moving from a 900 square-foot place to one that's more than 1,500 square-feet."

She said everyone will have their own room at their new house, which is just down the road from their current home. They were able to stay on the same road because their neighbors donated the land that their new house was built on.

"We've lived here long enough that our neighbors are like our family," she said. "It's beyond words that they would donate land to keep us in the neighborhood."

Roloff said the new house will mean a lot to her husband and each of their kids, but it will probably mean the most to their oldest son Tyler.

Tyler will be able to get around much easier in his wheelchair at their new house, she said.

"He couldn't get his wheelchair inside the old house," said Roloff. "Tyler had to park his wheelchair by the porch and leave it there."

Their new house has a cement ramp leading right into the living room, which means Tyler can stay in his wheelchair and still have full access to his new home.

"It's going to be a huge help," she said. "Tyler saw the house for the first time last weekend and he was just amazed."

Roloff said their new bathroom is also much bigger, which will make it easier for Tyler as well.

"Everything in the house is going to help him, it's just going to be a dream for him," said Roloff.

Roloff said her family spent a lot of time at the work site throughout the construction process. Putting in what Habitat for Humanity calls "sweat equity" is part of the process of becoming a new Habitat homeowner.

She said she got to meet some of the volunteers who helped build her house as a result, including some of the Job Corps students.

"Knowing these kids helped make this house possible is amazing," said Roloff, who works with at-risk youth at a juvenile detention center. "I got into working with kids in the first place to make a difference in their lives, and never knew I would be in a position where kids make a difference in my life."

She said her family is excited to move in to their new home.

"We're going to be able to build a new life and we'll have a home where our kids can begin to build new memories," said Roloff.