Cooperation will build a new home

Still, she admits, it's hard to realize that the project she's worked on since 1997 is finally coming to fruition: building a house for Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat, an international organization well-known in the Albany Diocese, builds affordable housing for needy families. To be eligible for a home, families must help build it themselves, providing 500 hours of "sweat equity."

Involvement

"People talked about time capsules and things like that," she recalled. "Driving home that night, I was thinking, `Wouldn't it be nice to do something more lasting?'"

Mrs. Towle-Hilt is a parishioner of St. Madeleine Sophie Church in Guilderland and had often volunteered at St. John's Center in Albany, which provides meals and services for the needy. Sister Betsy Van Deusen, CSJ, directed the center but left to take a position with Habitat for Humanity. Having learned about Habitat through Sister Betsy, an idea began to coalesce for Mrs. Towle-Hilt: to try involving the entire Guilderland community in building a Habitat home.

Ground floor

In fall 1997, the group began fundraising -- and their efforts quickly snowballed. Students at one local school filled a glass-and-wood dollhouse with pennies and donated them to the project. Other schools held car washes, bake sales and concerts. One special-education class made molded chocolate "houses" and sold them.

In addition, parishioners at St. Madeleine Sophie, Christ the King parish in Westmere and St. Lucy's in Altamont raised funds.

"This money just kept dribbling in!" Mrs. Towle-Hilt recalled, still astonished three years later. In 18 months, the group had raised the required $56,000.

Ready, set...

The Habitat project "is the longest thing I've ever done except for raising my children!" Mrs. Towle-Hilt told The Evangelist. "It's taught me a lot of patience. I have no experience at what I'm doing; the people on the committee are wonderful."

She boasted about children who were in kindergarten when the project began and who are still involved as proud third-graders. One such group wants to make a garden for the house, she said.

Even Mrs. Towle-Hilt's family has gotten involved. "It'll be kind of cool to come back and help," remarked her daughter, Laura, who is usually away at college. Through her own volunteering at St. John's Center, she learned that "it's enjoyable. I've seen people build houses and talk about the houses, and it's really cool."

Foundation

Any extra funds will be put toward other Habitat homes. Mrs. Towle-Hilt said that in Central America, $1,800 can build an entire house.

"I can't wait" to start building, she added. "We just can't wait to get the hammers, the nails, the wood!"

When the walls go up, Mrs. Towle-Hilt won't be the only one tackling the work. If there's anything she's learned through this project, she said, it's that "you can't do this alone. It's all the little pieces" from hundreds of people that have made a new home for a yet-unnamed family possible.

(To learn more about the project, call Mrs. Towle-Hilt at 355-2092 or email [email protected].)

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