Clinton homes get facelift

It was a time of fresh beginnings for a pair of longtime Sampson residents, the two recently opening the doors to new houses as part of Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity projects.

Both projects were in Clinton but, unlike the two the group built there last year, these were reconstructions rather than brand new from-scratch homes.

Arthur Mathis Jr. and Alice Spell were the recipients of those Habitat-built homes. Their homes were each severely damaged due to compounding effects of Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. Following those disasters, their living spaces were uninhabitable, structurally unsound, unsafe and to the point that repairs were too costly.

As such, their houses qualified for support from the NC Office of State Budget and Management (OSMB). Through that aid, OSMB was able to fund both reconstructions of replacement homes with grant funding from state disaster recovery funds meant for Florence and Matthew recovery.

In conjunction with those recovery funds appropriated by the General Assembly, state disaster recovery funding and charitable grants managed by Habitat, all costs were covered. Habitat also handled the project’s coordination, collaborating closely with EverDream Builders to ensure the completion of each home.

To celebrate the occasion, Habitat recently held home dedications for Mathis and Spell to commemorate move-in day into their new homes.

“We are a Christian organization and an unapologetic Christian organization,” Fayetteville Habitat for Hunanity CEO Brandon Price said during opening remarks. “You don’t have to be a believer to receive a home, to volunteer or to be employed with us, but Christ is the cornerstone from which we build.”

”I always tell people that don’t know, but people think that we build houses and give them away, that’s not true,” he continued. “Although today, it’s gonna seem like that almost. We have been incredibly blessed to be a big partner with the Office of State Budget and Management disaster recovery program out of Raleigh to build these homes.”

Those were the words Price shared during Mathis and Spell’s dedication ceremonies. Of those, first up that day was Mathis and in the program provided by Habitat it shared a little background on the homeowner.

Born Aug. 5, 1934, Mathis received 12 years of education from Sampson Training School. He was employed at Public Works and is the oldest of nine siblings. The father of seven children, he loves to garden and doing construction work.

Located on Phillips Street, Mathis’ yard was packed that afternoon with friends, family and loved ones that joined with Habitat members to celebrate with him. All around him were cameras and smiling faces for this moment that finally arrived but none were bigger than his.

As is customary with each of Habitat’s home dedications, Mathis received a Bible, an American flag and was gifting his key in a ceremony. Following that was a home celebration walk-through, but before that Mathis shared this with all present.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone involved,” he remarked. “I might can’t see well and I can hardly walk but that doesn’t keep me from saying I have been blessed by this group of people and I will never forget what you’ve done for me here today. Thank you all once again!”

Spell’s home was originally built in 1948 and she moved in it in 1949. It was a home her mother built after purchasing the land for $10 using the proceeds from her son’s (Romie James Underwood) service from WWII. Alice is the oldest of five born at their home on Stetson Street.

When talking to Habitat, she told them that she’s most excited about her new kitchen and her big new porch. As she ready to be able to sit on that porch and admire her landscaping and chats with her neighbors.

Following her dedication gifting of the Bible and flag her family got the opportunity to say a few words about the ceremonious day. The words her oldest son Jimmy Underwood spoke the mutual feeling her large crowd of family and loved ones had that came to celebrate with her.

“I just want to say a couple years ago, I didn’t know which way to go and I knew that my mom’s house was in dire need of repair,” he began. “Based on what she’s been through with the storms and just deterioration over the years and it’s been here a long time. So we did a lot of praying cause I wanted to help her because, I want everybody to know, this is my hero.”

“While she stayed with me for a while in Florida she told me one day, I want to go back home and I tried to convince her to stay in Florida, since there’s no bad weather here,” he said laughingly. “Regardless, she just said, I just want to go back home. So I gave in and said, okay, mom, if that’s what you want to do, so she came back.”

Little did Underwood know then that two hurricanes would devastate his hero’s home, but he said it was thanks to God’s grace that this moment arrived for his family.

“Not knowing how God was blessing her life, I met Mr. Rick (Callaway) from Habitat by telephone,” he stated. “He came out and did an assessment of the house and I asked him to be honest with me about it.”

Callaway told him that the house was in such disrepair that it was unsafe for his mom to live their. That encounter led to series of others within Habitat and the state which resulted in the new place that his beloved mother can now call home.

”Today, my mom has a beautiful new house and thanks to family pulling together, writing letters, we just want to say that it’s a blessing being around my mom,” Underwood said in heartwarming fashion. “I’m so elated and I just want to thank everybody and I pray everyone that walks through this door, let them be blessed.”

While the homeowner herself didn’t say much the one statement she did share is all that needed to be said. “I home, thank the lord,” Spell stepping through the doorway.