Published: February 25, 2009 08:44 am      

Atwood Fence Company lends hands to Habitat house

House building is not the usual business of Atwood Fence Company of Kosciusko but as part of their philanthropic interests Kay Atwood decided to assist in the building of a Habitat for Humanity house in Jackson for a single mother and her son.

As a result of the combined efforts of the Mississippi Road Builders Association along with companies such as Atwood, “have determined that we wanted to give back to the community and we thought Habitat would be a great way for us to band together putting the blitz on to get a house built in a week. This is going to be a great house to raise a little boy. I love the location and how it sits back a little off the street,” said Atwood, owner of a highway construction and fence company that is a permanent fixture in the hills of central Mississippi.

Upon the completion of an inspection by the Code Enforcement Office for the City of Jackson in four to five weeks Sharon and Arron Michael Howard will be moving into their new three bedroom Habitat home located at 162 E. Court Street on the cul-de-sac just off Bailey Avenue in the Georgetown community.

“This will be my first home. My son and I live with my mother so it will be a great day when we get to have a home of our own. I can’t say thanks enough to all of the people that have helped my dream come true,” Sharon Howard said. “I found out December 2008 that I had been approved for a home after being on the waiting list for several months.”

“My son and I are looking forward to having many Christmas and holiday dinners in this house. I feel good to be able to put in sweat equity in building my home” she said. “I look forward to working on other Habitat homes for other recipients in the future.” Howard is a 39-year-old cafeteria worker at Lake Elementary and Arron Michael is 4 and attends Holy Ghost Pre-K.

The contractors paid for the house and are lending their employees as workers to construct the house. Each contractor is spending approximately one day during the week with completion was scheduled for Feb. 13.

Bill Thornton, a truck driver with Atwood said, “I’ve seen projects like this on TV but I never thought I’d be a part of something that’s so gratifying. When we were told that we’d be doing this today I could hardly believe that this house will be completed by the end of the week, that’s fantastic. This is a good way for all of our guys to utilize other skills and Habitat is a great cause.”

Atwood’s primary task for their day was to get the exterior of the house painted.

Habitat will be on hand for an official dedication ceremony on move-in day for the Howard family in mid-March 2009.

Additional Road Builder Association members on site that were a part of the weeklong house building blitz included: Key Constructors/Rick Webster of Madison, MMC Materials/ Stanley Mangum of Jackson, Traffic Control Products of Brandon and Dozer Incorporated of Natchez.