On Wednesdays and Saturdays, Debbie Weigle and fellow members of the McLean Interfaith Coalition head over to Stevenson Street in Fairfax to do some construction work.
The group is composed of 12 congregations in McLean who volunteer their time to go help on the home-building project run by the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity.
They have been working at the site for about a year and have seen the project develop, a satisfying sight, according to Weigle.
"We started out with a concrete slab and we're up to three stories," she said.
Of 18 townhouses that are set to go up on Stevenson Street, nine were completed last summer with families already living in them. Another nine will be done in August. Weigle's group is also working to raise $135,000 for the remaining townhouses. So far they have $100,000 pledged. They will also be raffling off a $5,000 doll's house in McLean to raise money.
The group has had the chance to meet the family that will be living in the townhouse they have been working on.
"There's very much a relationship between our coalition and the family," she said. The family, she added is "a wonderful family from Eritrea" with three children, one of whom is a special needs child.
"It's really really thrilling," she said. "It's so like an old-fashioned barn raising."
"IT REALLY GIVES us a chance to work with some families that have had a really tough time getting a rental," said Helen McIlvaine, the executive director of the Northern Virginia chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Eligible families go through a selection process that requires them to volunteer 50 hours of their time before they have even been chosen to receive a house.
"That allows us to really develop a relationship," said McIlvaine.
Once, they are selected, two-parent families must contribute an additional 500 hours and one-parent families an additional 300 hours towards the construction of their new homes. This process, known as "sweat equity," gives people a firm stake in their future home, said Weigle.
"The Habitat families have such a piece of it, it's really their house," she said. "It means so much more than a house that HUD provides."
The homes are three-story townhouses with three upstairs bedrooms and another room downstairs that can be converted into an additional bedroom if a grandparent moves in. The families agree to a special 30-year mortgage with affordable terms that is supposed to cover the building materials, the services of subcontractors and a small development of the site development cost. As a result, Habitat families on Stevenson Street end up paying between $88,000 and $96,000 for their homes.
"This is really for the working poor," said Weigle. It's not a giveaway."
"I'm deeply touched in my heart by the people," said Tesfay Haile, a cabdriver who, with his family, will move into one of the new houses next year. "They come there working freely. I'm very thankful to the people."
Haile's family of five will move to the new townhouse from the one-bedroom appartment where they currently live in July or August of next year.
"I have been here for about 20 years but this was my dream, to get a house for my family," he said.
THE STEVENSON STREET site welcomes about 200 volunteers every Saturday. During the week the turnout is smaller, composed mostly of retirees, said McIlvaine.
Some local developers send teams of volunteers and materials to the site. For instance, Centex Homes donated the roof trusses for the second set of nine homes.
"We really appreciate having skilled volunteers," said McIlvaine. "It's something that we have wanted for a while."
The volunteers will take a month-long break in January to allow contractors such as plumbers or electricians to work on the houses. County code mandates that those tasks be done by licensed professionals.
But starting in February, the volunteers will return and, McIlvaine said, have the house completed in August so that the families can be completely settled in by the time school starts in September.
"We may beat that a little bit," said McIlvaine.