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 Hank Dewald | Daily Herald N.C. Baptist Men is helping build a new home for a Valley woman who lost hers in a fire. On hand Tuesday morning to work were, from the left, David Rodwell, George Smiley, Ron Garrett, Earl Newton, R. C. Davis, Waymon Payne, L.H. Sandy and Gerald Lynch. |
Those words do not do justice to what that really means to someone who has been through losing their home.
Fortunately for Pittman, she is now seeing what it is like to have a knight in shining armor ride up and save the day. In fact, there are several of them and they all work with the North Carolina Baptist Men, an all-volunteer group that specializes in disaster relief.
Since returning from helping build more than 700 new homes during the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, the local members of N.C. Baptist Men, have taken on the task of helping Pittman rebuild her home in the 900 block of Vance Street.
Locally, members are from seven different churches.
Pittman was referred to the Baptist organization by the Halifax/Northampton Habitat For Humanity group because they do not ordinarily do fire repairs or renovation work, instead focusing on putting someone who has never owned a home into a new one.
Unfortunately for Pittman, time was of the essence. She was told that her house, which was gutted by fire last May, must be demolished or repaired no later than Jan. 23.
With the help of family friend Arnold Finney, Pittman went before city council to formally appeal the order.
“This young lady is the mother of three boys,” Finney told council. “She works a job during the day and goes to school at night.”
Finney admitted the house was initially in bad shape before the fire, but Pittman and her late fiancé, Steve Barnes, who died in June, worked hard to fix it up. “She was living in conditions most of us wouldn't live in.”
Once the Baptist Men became involved, it became apparent Pittman's home could not be repaired. Rather than throw their hands up and leave, they decided to tear down the ravaged house and start over with building a new one.
While the process sounds a lot like what Habitat for Humanity normally does, these two organizations are not in any way competing or affiliated with one another.
Both are Christian-faith based organizations. Many of the volunteers actually work with both organizations.
Pittman and her three young sons are usually there helping whenever the boys are not in school and Pittman is not working at her job.
She had some choices about what was going to be built on her lot, and with the help and advice of the Baptist Men, she chose a design that fits in well with the surrounding mill homes.
According to Ron Garrett, who was working on the house Tuesday with seven other volunteers, the plan is to have Pittman in the home by June.
The group is ambitious if nothing else, but the results they produced during the Katrina disaster relief are an example of their hard work.
“There was such a need and such a witness when we were going down to help in Mississippi. The people down there were so appreciative, if we ever have another hurricane here, we're going to be over-run by people from Mississippi,” said Lawrence Sandy, director of Baptist Men in Eastern North Carolina.
Both groups - N.C. Baptist Men and Habitat For Humanity - depend on donations from both individuals and businesses, as well as volunteer help. For information on becoming involved in either organization, check out www.ncmissions.org or www.habitat. org, or call the N.C. Baptist Men at (800) 395-5102 or Halifax/Northampton Habitat at (252) 537-2556.
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