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House donation is ‘a Christmas miracle’
By Kalea Hall
NEW MIDDLETOWN
Albert “Al” Gilchrist Jr. was a low-key kind of guy.
Now, the late Al has become a legacy giver to Habitat for Humanity, worthy of a plaque and a story about his generous home donation to the organization.
But for Al, it wouldn’t be about him. It’s about what his donation will mean to the organization: building another house for someone in need and funding for one of the organization’s buildings.
“Every fall I am sitting at my desk thinking about how to build next year’s houses,” said Monica Craven, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of the Mahoning Valley. “We don’t get a lot of legacy gifts. We never get legacy gifts of this magnitude.”
Here’s the magnitude: Al’s house at 8949 Struthers Road in New Middletown is up for sale by Burgan Real Estate at $175,000. The proceeds will be enough to pretty much pay to build a Habitat home in Struthers next year and go toward the cost of starting up a Habitat ReStore, a non-profit home improvement store, in Trumbull County.
Typically, Habitat builds two to four houses a year.
Al passed the house on to the local Habitat and passed two homes in Arizona to the Habitat there after his unexpected death at 73 in June.
In New Middletown, the four-bedroom, three-bath expandable ranch home sits on 2 acres of property. Al and his late wife, Ann, had the house built in 1979. It has a touch of Al, his brother John Gilchrist says.
John had to show off his brother’s hidden spot in the basement of the home where he kept some prized possessions.
“He had to do add-ons,” John said. “That was his nature of doing things.”
His nature was also to give back. The way Al – as John affectionately calls him – gave back was by being a handyman at Habitat’s ReStore in Struthers.
It was natural for him to give his homes to the organization where he and his wife volunteered much of their time.
“We grew up on the East Side of Youngstown,” John said. “Money wasn’t important to either one of us.”
Al worked 35 years as a custodian for the Youngstown Board of Education, and on the side he would rebuild cars and busy himself with several other hobbies, including gun and train collecting.
“We worked on cars from the time we were kids,” John said. “I have got his Model A and I am going to finish that.”
John made certain, though, the New Middletown house made it to Habitat. When he called, there was a certain surprise to Craven and others.
John Burgan of Burgan Real Estate has been involved with Habitat for more than a decade. He is a volunteer on the site selection committee. Whenever there is a call for a donation of land or a home he goes out to look at it.
“We have some lots that have worked out for us,” he said. “Nothing of this magnitude.”
For Craven, Al’s donation took awhile to sink in. When she saw the house, tucked back into a wooded area with a pond out front, her jaw dropped.
“It is the gift that keeps on giving,” Craven said. “It is a Christmas miracle.”