From 150 applicants: Albion family will move to Palouse Habitat house

A single-wide trailer sits on a hill in Albion, windows rattling in the wind. Inside lives a single mother with two children. The stove barely works. The carpet is ancient.

Times have been hard and with another winter coming on, Krista Given is less than excited about her living conditions.

“Air comes in through the outlets. Half of them don’t work,” she said.

“I can’t let my kids freeze,” she said.

All this, however, is about to change.

Given and her family were selected from among 150 applicants for a house built by Palouse Habitat for Humanity in Palouse. If all goes well, the house should be finished within a year.

Soon, five-year-old Alexa will get to sleep in her own bed, with her own dresser.

“And what else do you get?” Given asks, leaning lovingly toward her other child, four-year-old Lionardo, or “Junior,” his nickname.

“Toys!” said Junior, smiling and ducking his head, shy around the reporter.

“And a bed?” Given asks.

“A bed!” he repeats.

The first few shovels full of dirt were broken in late August for their new home, located on Union Street in Palouse.

Given was selected because the Habitat committee felt her living conditions fully met their qualifications.

Habitat for Humanity projects are funded with donations and fundraising projects. As with all Habitat for Humanity homes, the owner must put in several hundred hours of their own labor on the home, called “sweat equity.” Given is required to put up 300 hours of labor.

Krista said she will be more than happy to leave their cold trailer and spread out in their new home.

A second Habitat for Humanity house will be built at the same Palouse site which is large enough for two houses.

The second home will go to Debbie Mitzinberg, also a single mother, with one child.

After they are finished in Palouse, Habitat plans on building a house in Uniontown, said Donna Bradberry, volunteer coordinator for the organization.

To qualify to live in a home, a family must demonstrate they fall between 30 to 60 percent of the medium income for a Whitman County family of their size.

Given’s job at Veterinary Medical Research and Development landed her inside those qualifications.

The Givens will still have to pay off a mortgage on the house but the sum is reduced because of the volunteer labor.

About eight similar homes have been erected over the years in Moscow and Pullman by Palouse Habitat for Humanity, the local chapter for Habitat for Humanity. Given added she is excited about the new home.