Homeowner Learns Construction Skills and Confidence

After years of fighting losing battles against addiction and domestic violence, homeowner Deitra Tucker finally, as she puts it, "stepped out in faith and left."

Tucker found refuge at a shelter for women, where she successfully participated in a drug and alcohol addiction program and life-skills classes. Gradually, she gained the confidence to move to a transitional living program.

"One day I was driving around the neighborhood and saw the Habitat houses being built," she recalls. "I got the number and called to volunteer.

"I was just so happy. I had my daughter back. I wasn't abusing myself or being abused any more. I wanted to give something back and be of service to someone."

Tucker chose to volunteer on a Kaw Valley Habitat for Humanity construction site, where her first assignment was caulking. Tucker did not realize that she herself could be a candidate for homeownership. But as the time for her to move out of the transitional housing program and into a fully independent life approached, the Kaw Valley HFH staff and office volunteers encouraged Tucker to apply for a house.

"I was selected for the program on February 14," she says, "and I started working right then."

Tucker became an enthusiastic volunteer on the construction site. She credits Mason Hanson, one of the affiliate's construction staff, with giving her the confidence to learn new skills and even overcome her longstanding fear of heights.

"He's an awesome man," she says. "He didn't give me little-bitty things to do. He saw something in me I didn't see in myself. I used to be afraid of heights, but now the roof is my favorite place to be."

As for the volunteers with whom she worked during the construction of her house, Tucker says, "Those people didn't have to be there. It was awesome to see people on the site just out of love. One day I thought, 'That lady owns a million-dollar house, and there she is, on my roof!'"