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Habitat for Humanity finishes veteran home in Austintown
AUSTINTOWN
It’s been a “long process” for Ron Borngesser Sr., 72, of Austintown to help Habitat for Humanity turn an abandoned property at 3889 New Road into a wheelchair-accessible home for an Iraq War veteran.
“I had the idea for this project on Aug. 10, 2010,” Borngesser said. “I’m a Vietnam War veteran, so I thought, why don’t we start giving back to them?”
After four years of trying to find a property, Borngesser finally was able to enter the finished home Tuesday afternoon.
“I’ve been wanting to enter a Habitat for Humanity home for eight to 10 years,” said Borngesser, who has been working with Habitat for nearly a decade. “This is the first home I could ever enter — since it has a handicap ramp to get in.”
Habitat for Humanity completed building the home at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The residence is the first Habitat home to be built in Austintown and also the first Habitat home in Mahoning County to be dedicated to a war veteran.
Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning County invited the public to see the home Tuesday afternoon. James Skok, a retired Iraq War veteran, will receive the deed today during a 5:30 p.m. ceremony.
Skok, 42, of Austintown was one of 17 veterans in a pool to receive the house.
Monica Craven, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning County, said Skok and his family had to do 400 hours of service with Habitat or its ReStore in order to get the home. She said the home was appraised at $92,500, which Skok will pay in a 28-year mortgage with zero-percent interest.
Craven said she estimated the house cost $110,000 to build. She said the nonprofit received $25,000 worth of donated materials and $75,000 in cash donations.
She said the nonprofit had “two pages full of sponsors” from the community. She said General Motors and FirstEnergy donated the largest dollar amounts.
Borngesser said more than 250 volunteers donated time.
Within the next week, Skok said he, his wife and three kids will move into the home. Skok’s back was injured in the war in 2003; he said he likely will be in a wheelchair in the next 10 years.
“My back is getting worse,” he said. “So they had to make the whole thing handicap accessible.”
Skok said the house looks very different from the abandoned home that was there only a year ago.
“It was a jungle there,” Skok said. “They had to tear down eight big trees and 12 smaller trees. Roots were coming in the basement.”
The new home is a one-floor ranch that measures about 1,250 square feet.
Borngesser said he plans to work with Habitat for Humanity to build another home for a veteran. Skok added that he wants to challenge other veterans like himself and Borngesser to build homes for veterans in other places in the county.