No place like home
Family moves in to new Habitat for Humanity home

Reed Anderson waits on Dale Underwood for a piece of siding trim Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at a Habitat for Humanity house under construction on the Gallup's north side. Independent file photo

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — The Thompson family got their Christmas miracle.

Emma and Harry Thompson and their six children were hoping to move into their new home — the third Habitat for Humanity house in Gallup — in time for Christmas, but volunteer project manager Bill Bright wasn’t sure all the house inspections would be done by then. But like a story with a happy ending, the house passed its inspections last week and the family began moving in Sunday evening.

However, before they moved in, the family welcomed several dozen well-wishers who toured their Habitat home and attended a house dedication ceremony. During the ceremony, as home building volunteers were recognized for the many hours they put into the project, all the members of the Thompson family — from preschooler Emily to high school student Evelina — thanked the many people who worked to build the house.

“Now I can say this is my home,” said Evelina, 16, who said her family has never before lived in a place that was truly a real home for them.

Emma Thompson fought back tears as she read from a prepared statement, saying the family felt blessed with the construction of the home. “We all want to thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts,” she said.

Bright presented a set of keys to Emily, 4, who passed them on to her parents. Although the house took much longer to build than the Extreme Makeover homes on television, he joked, it was built well and wouldn’t fall apart.

Richard Kontz, who is heading up a family selection committee for Habitat’s next home building project, presented the Thompson family with a hammer and a Bible, traditional house warming gifts that Habitat for Humanity officials give each partner family during their home dedication ceremony.

City Councilor Bill Nechero welcomed the family to the northside neighborhood and noted that all three Habitat homes in Gallup have been built on the north side. Audrey Schuurmann, the project manager for the first Habitat home, and Chris Chavez, the project manager for the second, also spoke briefly about the project.

Chavez, who explained some of the home’s energy efficiency features, said the Thompsons’ house is “one of the four greenest houses” in Gallup. He also praised the efforts of Bright and the small group of local residents who volunteered their time to build the home. “All of the accolades go to Bill and his volunteers,” Chavez said.

After the ceremony, Harry Thompson said his family would be moving in their belongings — along with a Christmas tree — that evening. He said he was looking forward to waking up Monday morning and enjoying his first cup of coffee in his new home.

In addition to Emily and Evelina, the other Thompson children include Harriett, 7, Marion, 11, Emery, 13, and Hiram, 14.

Now that his family has a four-bedroom home with enough space for all the children, Hiram said he will be transferring into a local public school in Gallup after being a boarding school student at Fort Wingate. Leaning against a living room picture window that gives a spectacular scenic view of Gallup, Hiram said his favorite feature of the house was its hillside view.

Marion, a fifth-grader who will be enrolling in her new neighborhood school at the end of the Christmas break, gave a visitor a tour of the house, showing which bedrooms would be shared by which siblings. Marion said during the 21 months it took to build the home, she helped clean, serve lunch to the volunteers, and painted the doors to the storage shed. When asked what she liked most about the house, Marion said, “Everything.”