VIDEO: Prudhomme lends a hand to Habitat home in Port Arthur

By Darragh Doiron
The Port Arthur News

May 12, 2008 05:12 pm

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When Gloria Prudhomme dreams of the life she and her teenage daughter will have in their new Habitat for Humanity home, her mind goes to the spacious quarters.
She and Tabitha will each have a private bathroom, a notion that gets them both excited. They’ve been seeking housing of their own since the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, she said.
“I just can’t wait ‘til it gets built,” Prudhomme said Monday, at a “wall raising” to kick off the 15th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. Prudhomme’s new home on 40th Street in Port Arthur, and one on a neighboring lot, are part of the hundreds being built this week along the Gulf Coast as part of the project, Uliana Trylowsky, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Jefferson County, said.
Prudhomme said she’s met her future neighbors, who will live in the other of the two houses being built, through Habitat classes on budgeting. The classes have helped prepare her to manage funds to keep her new home in shape, she said.
AmeriCorps volunteers from around the country raised walls on bare slabs on the sandy lot. By this weekend, the homes will need roof work. Marianne Tindall of Bank of America was on site in a business suit with a $10,000 check toward the project. Later she expects to be among bank employees who will hammer and drill away to complete the home.
Habitat board member Janeal Neilsen said there is an atmosphere of excitement at the work site.
“We’re praying for good weather for the rest of the week,” she said.
Capt. Leonel Ortiz of Salvation Army spoke about the need for both money and volunteers to make dreams of housing come true.
“The money is great, but we need the workers,” he said.
Project sponsors also include Capital One Bank, Total Petrochemicals, BASF Petrochemicals, Coca Cola Bottling Co., Texas Roadhouse and Habitat for Humanity International.
Contact this reporter at ddoiron@panews.com.