![3D"Amarillo.com](3D"http://amarillo.com/sites/all/themes/amarillo/logo.png" "3D\"Amarillo.com"){kind=logo}
![3D""=20](3D"http://amarillo.com/sites/all/modules/contrib/panels/images/blank.= "3D\"\"")
A change of plans
Builders to provide group a fifth = house
And soon there will be five.
More About Martha's Home
Martha's Home, a nonprofit organization that offers housing to = homeless women=20 and their children, has purchased a small home adjacent to three = properties it=20 owns in the 1200 block of Southwest 18th Avenue. The house, originally = scheduled=20 for renovation and expansion, will instead be replaced with a = four-bedroom,=20 three-bathroom home to house up to four women with children. The labor = and=20 materials are being donated by members of the Texas Panhandle Builders=20 Association.
Martha's Home also operates Hope House on South Buchanan Street for = women=20 with felony convictions who have difficulty obtaining housing.
"We receive women who are homeless for any reason," said Executive = Director=20 Connie Garcia.
The average age of residents is 37 years old, and mothers typically = bring one=20 to five children.
The four Martha's Home houses have the capacity to shelter up to 19 = single=20 women and four mothers with children.
Funding sources include grants, donations and proceeds from the = Second Chance=20 Prom. For more information about Martha's Home, call Garcia at = 806-372-4035 or=20 visit marthashome.org.
Martha's Home, a nonprofit shelter for homeless women and children, = operates=20 four residences that provide temporary housing for those who've lost a = place to=20 live. A fifth house is planned for the 1200 block of Southwest 18th = Avenue,=20 courtesy of the Texas Panhandle Builders Association members.
A residence with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, compliant with = Americans=20 with Disabilities Act standards, will go up on the lot where a tiny = house=20 recently purchased by Martha's Home now stands.
The house will be constructed in the spirit of "Extreme Makeover: = Home=20 Edition," a concept the association replicated last year in Wheeler. = Craftsmen,=20 contractors and suppliers are putting the hammer to the nail to house = four=20 mothers with children in Amarillo.
"It's an awesome gift," said Connie Garcia, executive director of = Martha's=20 Home.
Clint Norton, vice chairman of the Remodelors' Council and board = member of=20 TPBA, said another project was in order after the house in Wheeler was=20 built.
In 2009, TPBA won a national award for building a home from scratch = for the=20 Huey Carr family of Wheeler. The five-member Carr family's home was = destroyed=20 April 4, 2009, when wildfires rolled in from the west and overtook their = stucco,=20 three-bedroom home. A garage full of tools, a boat, a camper and several = old=20 vehicles used for harvesting parts also were destroyed.
In six days, association members built the Carrs' a four-bedroom, = two-bath=20 house based on Habitat for Humanity plans. They were awarded a 2009 = Council=20 Award for Demonstrating Remodeling Excellence from the National = Association Home=20 Builders.
"We decided we had to do something similar, but outdo ourselves," = Norton=20 said.
The original plan had been to double the size of a 700-square-foot,=20 one-bedroom home adjacent to three Martha's Home units on Southwest = 18th.=20 However, government regulations, which require an ADA-accessible house, = sent=20 builders back to the drawing board.
"But it's really going to give Martha's Home a new edge because they = will=20 have a home that meets these people's needs," Norton said.
The estimated completion date is late December, Norton said.
Meanwhile, the telephone rings regularly with women seeking help for=20 themselves and their offspring.
Ninety-five women have called since January seeking a place to stay. = Among=20 them, they have 127 children.
"We have a lengthy waiting list for mothers with children," Garcia = said. "We=20 are only able to check in a fraction. All shelters are experiencing a = shortage=20 for families. That was our thinking behind the new home."
Martha's Home, which opened in 1987, provides homeless women and = their=20 children with support and guidance toward lives of self-sufficiency = through=20 group living in one of four established houses in Amarillo.
First on the to-do list leading to completion are plans for asbestos=20 abatement, which is required before demolition can begin, and plan = approval by=20 city building officials. While most of the house and furnishings will = come=20 through donations, expenses are estimated to be about $7,000 higher than = expected to account for asbestos removal. Money will come from proceeds = of the=20 Remodelers' Council Show and from Martha's Home funds. The estimated = value of=20 the completed home is $225,000.
"We'll get permitted, and we're full steam ahead," Norton said.
Ashley Truelove lived in Martha's Home before and after her = 2-year-old son=20 Aiden was born. She knows what living with support, community and = education can=20 do. Since her stay at Martha's Home, she has earned a graduation = equivalency=20 diplomacy, completed probation on a drug conviction and is employed full = time at=20 Thrift City.
Truelove was 14 when her mother died. She was shuttled among family = members,=20 quit school and discovered recreational drugs.
"I was very, very, very scared of being by myself away from family," = she=20 said.
At Martha's Home she found safety, structure and a houseful of advice = from=20 staff and residents. Her son spent his infancy in a house with several = mothers=20 who shared child-rearing tips with Truelove. He learned to play with = other=20 children.
Truelove found other residents had their own tales of woe but still = had the=20 capacity to share. Building a surrogate family in the kitchen, around = the supper=20 table and while doing chores are ways troubled residents learn social = skills.=20 The constant encouragement from staff did the trick for Truelove.
"When you're helping somebody, you're really helping yourself," she = said.=20 "When you start brainstorming, you find things you didn't know you had = in your=20 head."
Now ambition has replaced depression, and Truelove plans to attend = Amarillo=20 College and West Texas A&M University and develop a career to = provide a home=20 for Aiden.
"I think in the future ... there's nothing that can hold me back = anymore,"=20 she said.
Related Content
![3D""=20](3D"http://amarillo.com/sites/all/themes/amarillo/images/blank.gif" "3D\"\"")
![3D"sky](3D"http://wp.myweather.net/wp/images/icons/Set-3/clear.gif" "3D\"sky"){kind=icon}
![3D""](3D"http://pmc.myweather.net/host/kfda/pix/trans.gif"){kind=spacer}