Families begin moving into Carter Work Project homes

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- This summer, thousands of volunteers spent a week in Mishawaka building affordable homes for the 35th Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

Now, nearly three months later, some of those families have moved in.

After hours of sweat equity and preparedness classes Ambera Pruitt and her two girls now have a home of their own.

“We can say, I remember our first Christmas here,” the new homeowner said.

Pruitt and her daughters are just one of the 2018 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project families – a project that brought over two thousand volunteers to Michiana for a week long building blitz that constructed 23 homes.

The family moved into their home near the end of October.

“It’s amazing, I look at the picture and it brings tears to my eyes. Just my house alone, I had volunteers from California, and from Illinois, and from Memphis and from Canada,” Pruitt explained.

Ambera and her volunteers, once strangers, not only built a home together, but life-long friendships.

“I just thank God for these people,” said Pruitt.

As the family settles into their new home, so does a feeling of appreciation.

“When I’m sweeping the floors, it’s like I put these floors in, so you take care of them better. You know, you take care of the walls better when you spent 6 hours in the warehouse building the walls and getting blisters on your hands,” said the mother.

Pruitt says nine of the 23 families have moved into the Carter Work Project site.

“When I look around my neighborhood, you know with the neighbors who have moved in already. Um, you know just we know each other.” “We talk to each other the children know each other... It’s a community, we are close,” she said.

Still many families are waiting to move into the neighborhood, but Pruitt says Habitat for Humanity crews and volunteers are continuously out at the site working hard to move everyone in.