Volunteers and a family in Fort Worth are celebrating progress on a home they have been building on the campus of the medical device company, Alcon. Alcon and Habitat for Humanity have been working together on projects for 23 years.
Thursday, they held a "board cutting ceremony" at the job site to dedicate the home to the Smith family.
"Just to look at it being built with my own blood, sweat and tears, it's kind of weird at first, but at the same time, I'm like, 'This is amazing,'" said LaNitra Smith. "It's a blessing. That's all I can say."
Smith said the home will give her and her daughters a place to settle instead of having to move from apartment to apartment in different school districts.
She said the home will also give her family a chance to build memories in one place they can revisit when her kids have grown up.
"We'll say, 'Oh, I remember when I broke this window,' or 'I remember when I put this line on the wall and mom taped it up,'" Smith says.
"That strong family gets stability," said Trinity Habitat Chief Executive Gage Yager. "That means success and self-reliance in the future for LaNitra and her beautiful daughters."
Alcon hosts Habitat builds on its campus south of I-20 in Fort Worth regularly. Volunteers work in two shifts over four days to finish framing, siding, windows and doors.
"It is ingrained in our DNA to help the community, the residents and the citizens of Fort Worth," said Alcon's Carla Mack. "No matter where you come from, you need that stability for your kids. You want them to be able to come home from school and just have a place. It's just such a great honor to be a part of this."
"There are few words more warm than home," Yager said. "Family, home, they all go together because it's a transformational asset."
Families who work with Habitat pay mortgages and property tax. This house will be moved to a neighborhood in East Fort Worth with about 50 other Habitat homes.
Yager said neighborhoods with Habitat homes are transformed from vacant lots to houses where people know each other, leading to a drop in crime. Since the land is no longer vacant, cities and counties will also receive more property tax revenue. He says Habitat homes produce several million dollars in tax revenue a year to support infrastructure and emergency services.
Families also take classes on financial literacy, home ownership and how to make their own repairs.
"It's getting out of that survival mode and into thriving," Yager said. "North Texas, Fort Worth is a great place to live and work. We want the American Dream to work for everybody."
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