Jenny Lewis and her son, Austin, 5, stand in front of the house they?ll move into next month. Lewis worked on the house with volunteers from Habitat for Humanity. The house is the eighth Habitat house built in Marshall County. Pilot Photo/Tim Robertson

By Tim Robertson Staff Writer
PLYMOUTH — Jenny Lewis stood in the kitchen of a new house on Washington Street Tuesday.
“I’ve always wanted a red kitchen,” Lewis said, motioning toward the crimson colored walls.
Lewis and her son, Austin, 5, will move into the house early next month. The move will be the capstone on more than a year of planning and building with the help of numerous volunteers from the community.
The house is the most recent Habitat for Humanity  project in Marshall County. Each year, Habitat takes applications from families in the county with housing needs. Habitat director Dean Byers said, to be chosen as a partner family, the family must be in serious need of housing, help build the new house and have enough income to pay the mortgage. After the house is constructed, the cost of the materials used in construction is calculated and the total becomes the cost of the home. Byers said this becomes a 20-year, interest-free mortgage. The family is required to put in at least 250 hours of what Byers called “sweat equity” which can include working in the Habitat for Humanity office or involvement in other community service activities. Partner families are selected more than a year in advance and must complete 100 sweat equity hours before construction on the home can begin.
Lewis has worked 300 hours of sweat equity toward her home, on top of her two regular jobs working at Teachers Credit Union and JC Penney, studying part time at Ivy Tech in South Bend, and keeping up with Austin.
Local contractors, material suppliers and volunteers work together to build each Habitat house. Lewis worked along side the volunteers and gave personal touches to her future home. She picked the paint colors for the house, including the red kitchen and blue, Austin’s favorite color, for his bedroom.
She even made a modification to the plans — a window cut in the wall in front of the kitchen sink allowing Lewis to watch her son as he plays in the living room or even the front yard.
The house isn’t far from where Lewis currently lives with her mother. She said she’s glad to stay close to family.
“My mom helps baby-sit, so it’s nice to be close,” she said.
Even so, Lewis said she has mixed feelings about moving into her own house.
“I’m excited and nervous at the same time,” she said. “It’s going to be a change. I’ve lived with my mom ever since I was little. But, I’ll have my own space and it won’t be so crowded.”
Habitat for Humanity will hold an open house to dedicate the new home Sunday.
The house is the eighth Habitat home built in Marshall County. The next one, Byers said, will probably be built in Culver next year.