‘Welcome to the Neighborhood’ Habitat for Humanity Pell City completes home for local veteran

Published 3:37 pm Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Over the past year, volunteers from around the area have been building a home. This home was a bit different from the other 12 Habitat for Humanity homes that have been built in Pell City over the years. This was the first ADA constructed home and it was designed specifically for a special resident, disabled Army veteran Roy Jordan.

Jordan, along with his niece and nephew, will reside in the newly constructed home, which features handicap-accessible bathrooms, showers, and doorways.

“This is the first time a home has been accessible to me,” Jordan said. “I won’t be restricted.”

Jordan served in the Army from 1979-1986. Friends, neighbors, volunteers, and community leaders were there for the Pell City Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting and Home Dedication Ceremony on April 12 to officially welcome this deserving Veteran to his new home.

Patsy Ford has lived in the neighborhood for 51 years. “I wasn’t planning on staying in my house for very long because it was small, but we just kept adding on,” Ford said. She introduced herself to Jordan, shaking his hand.

“Welcome to the neighborhood!” Ford said enthusiastically.

Jean Speer with Habitat for Humanity Pell City announced that the Pell City chapter would be merging with Habitat of Greater Birmingham.

“We are excited about the merger,” Speer stated. “We will be able to expand and help so many more people.”

Numerous volunteers from the community, many of which attended the opening, helped with the construction. Volunteers cleared the property located in the Historic Mill Village in Pell City. They constructed the home, finished the interior, plumbing, electrical, sheetrock, painting, cabinets, and custom tile in the ADA compliant shower. Sod was laid in the yard and an American flag was hung on the front porch.

“It’s wonderful…something you can’t explain,” said Javon Jordan, tenth grader at Pell City High School who will be living in the home. “We have been waiting a long time for this.” 

Jordan and his family helped with the construction, along with more than 30 contractors and professionals who donated their time and resources. High school and college students assisted during their spring break, including local cheerleaders and football players. Eden Career Technical School students also lent their skills to the construction.

“When I first told my cheerleaders we were going to work on a Habitat house, they looked at me like I was crazy. But I’d like to share with you what happened after we got there,” Pell City Varsity Cheerleader Coach Dee Doss shared. “When they found out it was for a disabled veteran, everything changed. We weren’t working on a house anymore – we were working on someone’s future. They starting referring to Mr. Jordan as ‘our guy’ and the girls began working with a new purpose… for something ‘bigger than themselves’. My girls and I are better people for having been a part of it!”

Habitat for Humanity is part of a nonprofit global housing organization that is “dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, rehabilitating and preserving homes; by advocating for fair and just housing policies; and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions.”

Globally, the organization has helped build, renovate, repair more than 600,000 homes sheltering more than 3 million people since their founding in 1976. For more information, visit alabamahabitat.org.