USF St. Petersburg department builds new home

BY AMANDA SMITH
STAFF WRITER 

Harriett Fletcher has always wanted a place to call home. Thanks to Habitat for Humanity and the USF St. Petersburg community, she will finally get her wish.

“For so long, I’d been a part of a government-assisted housing program where I had to move every six months,” said Fletcher, who has been the staff assistant for the College of Arts and Sciences for two years. “My kids never had a place they knew as home.”

Fletcher said when she had endured all she could with the housing program, she and her two sons, ages 19 and 12, moved in with her mother as a last resort.

“It’s so uncomfortable living with my mom,” she said. “My youngest son has to sleep in the same bed with me, and my older son is stuck sleeping in the den. I just wanted a better life for them.”

A friend of Fletcher’s approached her about applying with Habitat for Humanity, an international non-profit Christian housing ministry with a mission to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness around the world.

“I went to a Pinellas County Habitat for Humanity meeting after my friend told me about it, and I thought, wow, I might really have a chance at this,” Fletcher said. “I might really have a chance to build a home for my family.”

The Pinellas County branch of Habitat has completed 144 homes so far, supplying families with new homes built from the ground up by construction workers and volunteers.

“Habitat for Humanity is more than just a housing program,” Jamie Cataldo, communications director at Habitat, said. “We are a permanent housing solution.”

“We give families an opportunity to own homes; families that may never otherwise get a chance to do so,” Cataldo said. “And we give members of our community a chance to give back, by volunteering or offering a donation.”

Habitat for Humanity looks for candidates who demonstrate a real need, she said. The organization determines need by looking at applicants’ current living conditions, their income, and their credit score. A decent credit score is necessary because the candidate will own the home and pay an income-based mortgage if they are accepted into the program.

Fletcher said she filled out all the paperwork and anxiously waited to hear back from the organization. After a few weeks, Habitat representatives paid Fletcher a visit at her mother’s home.

“Habitat for Humanity had to come to my mom’s house; board members came to see if our living conditions qualified us for a new home,” Fletcher said, “When they got there, they said we were definitely eligible.”

Fletcher said she received word that she was approved in March and began the process of enlisting volunteers to work on her new home in April.

Jennifer Woroner, office manager for the College of Arts and Sciences, said she was glad to be a part of the experience.

“Harriett was always so open about her situation with us, and I really wanted to help her,” Woroner said. “She does so much for the office here, and she’s so busy, so I took on the role of organizing volunteers.”

She sent out a mass e-mail to her department, providing specific dates and times that people in the campus community could volunteer.

“We have such outstanding faculty and staff, such supportive people who gave a great response to Harriett’s needs,” Woroner said.

Several faculty and staff members volunteered, including Joseph Dorsey, Francis Auld, David Everingham and Lucy Trimarco.

“I received an e-mail that I think went out to all faculty, and I was immediately interested,” Trimarco, an art professor at USF St. Petersburg said.

 Trimarco said the volunteer effort was a great experience, and that she was never short on things to do.

“We were all wearing our hardhats, operating tools, cordless drills and drivers,” she said. Trimarco, with 23-year-old student Crystal Kelly, worked on securing the walls with screws.

“The house is still in its basic construction phase, so I screwed plywood into the side of the house to help secure the walls when they poured the cement into the walls,” Kelly, an English major, said.

Kelly, Trimarco, and fiscal and business analyst Everingham all agreed that knowing the house was for Fletcher was the best part about working on it.

“She does so much for me, whether it’s just copying paperwork for me, or anything,” Trimarco said. “She goes out of her way for me constantly, and this was my way to give back to her.”

“I really wanted to help Harriett,” said Everingham, who works in the office with Fletcher and Woroner. “We care about each other.”

“The whole office really came together for me,” Fletcher said. “We worked on my house last Wednesday. We had a temp work the morning shift in the office, from 9 to 12, while a bunch of us worked on the house.”

Woroner said the best part about helping Fletcher is knowing that Fletcher and her family will be happy.

“Watching her children is amazing. They’re so cute when they come out to the site,” Woroner said. “Her youngest son has been taking pictures of the progress, and you can just tell how much he just wants his own room.”

“You can just feel how happy they are, and Harriett really deserves it,” she said.

Fletcher said the house must be finished by July or August to meet the deadline set forth by Habitat for Humanity. She is already anticipating the house’s completion.

“I’m already nervous trying to get my speech together, because when the house is done Habitat for Humanity will hold a large dedication ceremony,” Fletcher said.

“Channel 8, BayNews9, the St. Pete Times—they all come out for it,” she said. “I already know I’m going to be crying.”

Fletcher said she could not be more thankful for the support she has received from Habitat for Humanity and from her USF St. Petersburg colleagues.

“This is definitely a blessing,” Fletcher said, “I’m more grateful than they’ll ever know.”