A large yellow bow and a welcome home sign decorated the front of the house at 205 Winter St. Sunday afternoon, a house that sisters Tamzella and Josephine Smith consider to be a miracle.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Tamzella Smith. “It’s something we have always wanted.”

“May God bless everyone for making this possible,” said Josephine Smith.

Habitat for Humanity held a house dedication and pounding, an event where attendees bring kitchen supplies, for the Smith sisters and their family Sunday afternoon. Many friends and family members showed up to see the new home, bringing with them baking ingredients and various other home goods, as well as best wishes.

This home marks number 18 for the Warren County branch of Habitat for Humanity and it is the first home to be finished in 2008. The organization is working on two other homes it hopes to finish this year as well.

Abraham Green, executive director for the local branch, says the national program relies on donations from church groups, businesses or individuals, the United Way, and small grants to fund their projects. Habitat also relies on volunteers, and those numbers have been down lately.

“Volunteers have been low since Katrina with more and more people heading to the Coast to help out. We have a faithful few but they alone are not enough to get the job done,” Green said. “We are hoping this home dedication will be a wake-up call. We want people to see that we are actually getting things done in Warren County, that we are actually finishing houses, so they will want to help.”

Each Habitat home recipient is required to put “sweat equity” into a home by spending at least 200 hours working at the construction site. In previous cases, recipients were required to work 500 hours. The number was reduced, and Habitat is relying more heavily on professionals due to low volunteer turnout.

“If they work on their own home, they will appreciate it more,” said Green. Tamzella Smith said it was enjoyable. “We had a lot of fun working,” she said. “We had a lot of help from friends and family.”

Habitat chooses recipients based on need, ability to pay monthly installments on the home and the willingness to partner and work with the organization. The goal is to eliminate substandard housing.

“We don’t give homes away,” said Green. “We work with each homeowner to help them make monthly payments. Volunteers help to keep the price down and we are able to get zero percent financing on the homes. We are the mortgage holders and we’ll work with them to solve issues.

“We do not set anyone up for failure. If it appears they won’t be able to pay we choose someone else.”

The Smith sisters are hoping they and their family will be able to move into their new home any day now; they are simply waiting for the final paperwork to go through. It is the end of a three-year process that landed them one of the sweetest things they’ve ever known

Habitat homesWarren County Habitat for Humanity has built 18 homes. The names of the recipients and the dates they moved in:Alfreda Thomas……………………916 Dewitt St., April 1992Ola Mae Johnson………………….810 Meadow St., May 1994Patricia Graham……………………814 Meadow St., December 1994Earline Thompson…………………816 Meadow St., December 1996Annie Mae Robinson……………..822 Meadow St., August 1997Deborah Riley………………………210 Meadowvale Drive, December 1997Deborah Nunnally………………….818 Meadow St., January 1998Annette Phillips…………………….820 Meadow St., March 2000Michael and Monya Williams……2916 Arcadia St., September 2000Deloris Powell………………………2302 Letita St., October 2000Vanessa Russell…………………..2420 Hunt St., May 2001Ora Anderson………………………812 Meadow St., May 2002Richard Anderson………………….206 Winter St., May 2003Katie Mae Robinson………………209 Winter St., May 2003Kathryn Huell……………………….1038 Meadow St., January 2004Williestene Alexander…………….1313 Jefferson St., December 2004Mamie Cook………………………..207 Winter St., February 2005Tamzella and Josephine Smith…205 Winter St., June 2008