[Tennessee] Builder helps 'get people out of poverty into home ownership'

from The Jackson Sun

By PETE WICKHAM

Thurston Perry isn't retiring.

"I'm scaling back," he said. "I will go back to my base businesses, mostly the electrician work."

But at 63, isn't it time to kick back and ...?
"Listen," he said with a smile. "My father J.L. Perry is 91. He's still out working most every day, some days still working a bush hog. No way I can stop working while he's out doing that."

He says it while getting ready for a heck of a curtain call. With the help of the Jackson Area Home Builders Association, Leadership Jackson and Delta Faucet, he is laying the groundwork for a new neighborhood in East Jackson, Habitat Meadows. The first four houses of what will be a 36-home neighborhood are going up, and three will be done by the end of this week as part of the 2006 Habitat Home Builders Blitz.

Perry has coordinated the building activities during the busiest five years of Habitat's existence. In all, 38 new homes will be built for low-income families looking for that piece of the American dream.

"I told Terri (Kozlowitz, Habitat's executive director) I'd help her start this project up," he said. "I was hoping to have 100 homes built when I left, but this is a pretty good number."

Question: What's the biggest challenge to building a Habitat house?

Answer: Most of the time you get volunteers who come with big hearts, but not much experience. You work to help them keep that big heart, find things that everyone can do - but there are days it goes pretty slow.

Q: What do you have to teach?

A: Basically from A to Z with a lot of folks. You find out things they can do and want to do, and work around everyone's skill level.

Q: When you find someone that really takes to it?

A: Those are the ones you file away lots of times ... I put my hands on and hold onto best I can.

Q: Biggest challenge with this job?

A: Really, this should be the easiest project of this kind we've ever done because we have so much help (three of the four homes are being built by Woodall Construction Group and Glenco Construction). It's just planning in such a way that these guys can do their job, then get back to their regular jobs, because this is time they're giving to us. We've tried this type of situation a couple of other times and it went slower.

Q: What are the usual headaches?

A: Getting all of the people coordinated, all of the materials here on time ... but that really isn't a problem because the vendors we have I can say have never let us down. Ever ... sometimes they'll call me about things I haven't thought of or ordered yet, and they're ready to step in. I don't even want to single one out, because there are so many, but we're blessed to have the kind of relationship we have with vendors and subs (sub-contractors).

Q: They keep you supplied pretty well?

A: They do more than that. Lots of times the vendors will come out and help us work with the volunteers. A lot of them have been lifesavers, because I don't know it all either. I get with one team, have a vendor get on the other side with another team and we dig in.

Q: What's the most satisfying part of this job?

A: Our homeowners go through this long (nurturing) process to get ready for the day ... but about two weeks before building starts, reality hits. You can see it.

Q: That nurturing process, with the classes on how to be a homeowner and such, those play a big part?

A: I don't get involved in that part of the operation, but I figure that anyone who goes into one of these houses should be 40 percent more advanced than the average homeowner, who doesn't take the time to learn those things first.

Q: And the ultimate goal?

A: This whole program is designed to get people out of poverty into home ownership ... if the homeowner digs in and applies everything they learn for themselves, they can better their own life.