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Retired marine asks for support
By kalea hall
austintown
Jim Skok believes God has placed events and people in his life over the past year.
After a series of events, he will be the proud owner of a Habitat for Humanity home, but first he needs community support.
“I have never won anything in my life, except [a prize] from a scratch lottery ticket,” he said. “Now, I got the house.”
The Habitat for Humanity Share the Love Zumba-a-thon at Austintown Elementary School — to support the building of the Skok house — starts at 10 a.m. Feb. 15, which just happens to be Skok’s birthday.
“It’s just so weird how things happen,” Skok said.
It all started last year when Skok’s daughter asked him to go to her Austintown elementary school to watch over her and the other students after the Sandy Hook tragedy. Skok, who is a retired Marine after serving from 1992 until 2010, agreed and developed a friendship with Kim Svabik.
“He opened the doors for me I can’t tell you how many times,” Svabik said of Skok. “I thought he was amazing. I knew I felt safer with him there.”
Svabik also had a child at the elementary school and continued to run into Skok. She soon learned of how Skok, his wife and three children received a home from Habitat, and they needed some support.
“God places people in your life for a reason,” Skok said. “Kim was there at the right moment and at the right time.”
Skok said he wasn’t even going to apply to receive the house from Habitat, but his wife kept asking him and finally drove him to apply. The house was to be given to a veteran as part of the veterans’ project by the township, American Legion Post 301, and other veterans’ organizations.
“We were looking for a house and [my wife] found the article [about the veterans’ project] and here we are,” Skok said, “If it ain’t God-sent, then I don’t know what it is.”
Ground is expected to be broken in March on the new four-bedroom, two-bathroom home for the Skok family. The house will be built on New Road where a previous house was demolished by the township.
The house is being sponsored by FirstEnergy, but more sponsors are needed. The Zumba-a-thon is a way for every community member to get involved without picking up a hammer to help build.
“I believe in serving the community in a positive way,” Skok said. “Zumba is something that is going to help you in the long run.”
If interested in Habitat for Humanity: Share the Love Zumba-a-thon, go to habitatmahoningcounty.org. Tickets for age 12 and up are $15 before the Zumba-a-thon and $20 at the Zumba-a-thon.