WARREN Family celebrates groundbreaking for Habitat home

The kids range in age from 7 months to 13 years.
By JAYME RAMSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- No more bunk beds for the Trask family.
The 10-member family will move from a three-bedroom house to a five-bedroom dwelling around this time next year when their Habitat for Humanity house is completed.
The family celebrated at Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony for their new home on Beal Street Northwest, which will have an estimated value of $60,000 according to George Sparacino, president of Habitat for Humanity of Trumbull County.
The Trasks will make a monthly mortgage payment to Habitat, only paying the principal, taxes and insurance. They will not have to pay interest.
One source of funding for the home is a $20,000 state grant.
The grant will be added to Habitat's budget in increments of $5,000 as the project progresses.
Goal in lives
For Scott and Marcella Trask, the assistance has helped them attain one of their goals: to own a home.
"I'm so thankful. Without Habitat, we never would have had this opportunity," Scott Trask said. "We manage right now. We get the food, the clothes, but we couldn't really have what we wanted, which was our own home, something that we can do all kind of things with."
Now all members of the family can enjoy their own space. The four boys and four girls range in age from 7 months to 13 years.
"I told them, 'You people have just changed 10 people's lives so dramatically you won't even believe it,'" Scott said. "The kids are excited, I'm excited, my wife is excited. We just don't know how to act because we've never had help like this."
Although Scott says the family has never had this kind of help, he and his wife have helped others.
Remodeled homes
Scott, who works at a plant in Newton Falls, helped Habitat remodel two homes before the groundbreaking for his own.
He and his wife adopted their four nieces to prevent the girls from being split up and living in foster care.
After applying for Habitat assistance, the Trasks were interviewed by the selection committee.
"They heard everybody's case and they were pretty impressed by what we do," Scott said. "It's just normal for us, what we do. People, I guess, just recognize it as helpful."
Sparacino was pleased to see the Trask family on their way to owning a home. He estimates the project will take about a year, but the work crew of six volunteers want to have it done in eight or nine months.
Now that the initial excitement has died down, the Trasks are ready to move on to a new part of their lives.
"We're looking forward to owning something, knowing we've made a major accomplishment. We've set a goal and we're accomplishing it," Scott said.
"Everybody's just going to have their own peace of mind there and their own little space. It feels like we've hit the lottery."