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Home, risen from ashes, to be dedicated today
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Ericka Corbin's new home being built by Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity with a dedication scheduled for January 18, 2009.
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Ericka Corbin, of New Castle, stands insider her new home alongside Sheree Cunningham, Affiliate Manager of Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity, Cunningham's organization is currently building Corbin a new home scheduled for completion by January 18th 2009.
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Ericka Corbin, of New Castle, stands outside her new home currently being built by Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity and scheduled for completion by January 18th 2009.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Ericka Corbin’s new neighborhood has quite a history.
The newly built house of the mother of three stands on a once-empty lot on Franklin Avenue. Two empty lots remain to the right of it, and one to the left — gaping reminders of the Nov. 27, 2006, blast that destroyed the original homes there.
Beside the empty lots on the right, another house has risen from the ashes of that day, when 31-year-old Patrick Henry took a flame to a broken natural gas pipe in a suicide attempt and blew up his house.
The consequences of his act were terrible. A young couple going to Henry’s house to check on him were hurt, with the wife spending three months recovering from serious burns.
Henry also spent some time recovering from injuries in the blast.
And eight other homes besides his were damaged beyond repair.
The last of that November day’s repercussions concluded two weeks ago. Henry was sentenced in court after a plea deal in November reduced multiple charges to one count of arson. He’ll spend seven to 14 years in prison, where he’ll get court-ordered psychiatric care.
His old neighborhood is extra quiet now, buried under the recent heavy snow, and the two new houses that signify its new beginning are courtesy of a familiar organization — they’re the work of the Lawrence County chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Corbin will move into the newest one, a two-story, three-bedroom house with plenty of closet space and a nook off the second-floor hall for her computer desk, after a dedication ceremony today in which Habitat will give her the keys.
Habitat broke ground for the house in October 2007. Now, after more than a year in which she devoted 250 required hours to homeowner education, community service and “sweat equity,” Corbin is ready for her new beginning, too.
“I’m loving this more and more, every time I walk through the house,” she said one day last week on the home’s second floor.
She pointed out which of the three bedrooms belong to whom — hers, at the end of the hall, one for her two sons, Andre, 7, and Corey, 2, in the middle, and the third for her daughter, 13-year-old Clorissa, at the other end.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with all that closet space,” she said as she peered into the towel closet in the bathroom.
Corbin, a licensed practical nurse who works for Guardian Health Care in Youngstown, isn’t quite ready to move in just yet.
She still has some painting to do before she brings her family over from the house they rent on Friendship Street.
But she’s come a long way.
She’s painted. And built walls. She’s hung siding and installed insulation.
“They told me it was ‘itch-free,’” said Corbin, but “they” — some of the Habitat volunteers who helped build the house — were having a laugh at her expense. “It is NOT itch-free,” she said, even though she wore gloves and a mask.
She’s worked at two other Habitat houses, including the other one in her neighborhood. That house belongs to her friend, Sherry Signorello, who inspired Corbin to apply to Habitat as well.
Her children helped her accumulate hours — the two older ones helped her do a bulk mailing at Habitat’s office. Even Clorissa’s straight A’s in school counted, said Sheree Cunningham, affiliate manager of Lawrence County’s Habitat.
Habitat will act as the bank for Corbin’s house. She’ll make interest-free mortgage payments to the organization. She had to pass a credit check, and Habitat made sure she could afford the mortgage payments.
“The big myth with Habitat is that we give homes away, and we don’t,” Cunningham said. “It’s a hand up, not a handout,” she said, adding that Habitat applicants typically just don’t have enough money for a down payment or can’t qualify for a conventional mortgage.
The organization itself gets some breaks. Four of the lots on the street that were emptied by the blast were donated to the organization.
A Habitat board member got a deal on $35-a-yard carpeting, paying $6 a yard and passing it on for Corbin’s upstairs.
The biggest contribution, Cunningham noted, was from a Pittsburgh company called Quality Aggregates. The company approached Habitat because it wanted to give back to the community, she said.
“They basically funded the whole house,” she said, including some professional contractors who helped Habitat volunteers frame the dwelling.
About 75 volunteers worked at various times on the house, including college students from Westminster and Slippery Rock.
Twenty-five women even put on pink hard hats for a “women’s build,” cutting and laying wood.
Now, the house is just about ready. At the dedication ceremony, set for 2 p.m. today, Corbin’s children will read from Scripture. Her pastor, Eric Brown Sr. from the Community Church of God in Youngstown, will bless the home at 829 Franklin Ave. Rick Bruening, a Lawrence County resident who wrote an original song for Habitat, “Brick by Brick,” will sing it. The public is invited.
After the dedication, Corbin’s new house will need only one more thing: its family.
starmack@vindy.com