"I'm very excited for my family and myself and thank God that we've been selected by Habitat for a new home." Those are the words of Joseph Lewis, who along with his wife, Michelle, and four children, will be the recipients of the first Habitat for Humanity house sponsored by Berea College's Habitat chapter. The Lewises enthusiasm is shared by Ralph and Diane Stinebrickner, who are the family partners for the house recipients.

"We are very pleased that Berea College is sponsoring a Habitat construction project and honored that we were asked to be family partners for the Lewises," the Stinebrickers commented.

Stinebrickner is a mathematics professor at the College and his wife, Dianne, is a nurse with the Madison County Health Department, serving at Mayfield Elementary School . Many others also are collaborating on the 216 Mary Street house project, scheduled to be completed May 11. Contributions for the project have come from College faculty, staff, retirees, alumni, "friends," departments, student clubs and organizations and the student body at large. The house recipients also have contributed to the project, which began officially with a wall-raising ceremony March 20.

The Lewis family's housing needs have been described in the following manner: "They currently live in a two-bedroom house with bath and laundry that is very crowded-two boys in one bedroom, mother and daughter in the second and the father sleeps on the couch. The baby's bed is in the living room. The windows don't open in some of the rooms and there are no screens on the windows or doors. They heat with a gas heater in the living room and electric heaters in the bedrooms and bathroom as needed. Their rent is $315 per month."

Aaron, the oldest son in the Lewis family, is a sixth grader at Foley Middle School, Chris is a fifth grader and Stephanie a second grader at Silver Creek School. The youngest child, Drew, is not quite a year old.

The first of the major criteria for a Habitat for Humanity house candidacy is a recipient's ability to pay $200 per month for a certain number of years until all material costs are paid in full. In making monthly payments, house recipients work toward ownership of their home. Other responsibilities for the family include 300 hours of "sweat equity" or manual labor on the house and attending finance management and budgeting sessions. The extent to which candidates are in need of a new residence also is a major consideration. A Habitat selection committee chose the Lewis family for the project.

Students from Mary Washington College and the University of Illinois worked on house's pre-build. Berea students spent the beginning of their March spring break raising the house walls with help from a student group from Macalester College. The remainder of the break will be spent working on roofing, electrical, heating, plumbing, insulation, vinyl siding and drywall aspects of the project.

"College Campus Minister Lee Morris has worked with the Berea College Chapter from the very beginning, organizing spring break Habitat projects, and bringing students to local sites on many Saturdays," Madison County Habitat Executive Director Guy Patrick noted. "Much of the credit for bringing about this wonderful work needs to go to Lee."

Morris feels that every project is a joint effort. "Habitat's goal is to make each build a mutual partnership among all participants" he stated. " The old Chinese proverb, 'Give a man a fish, feed him for a day-- teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime,' needs an addendum. At Habitat for Humanity, we fish together, and fishermen seems an appropriate comparison considering the organization's spiritual focus." Patrick agrees. "It's hard not to get excited if you think that what you are doing is in partnership with God."