Habitat for Humanity program revives Marysville street, gifts home to a neighbor in need
Rural Rally, a new program by Habitat for Humanity, is rolling into Marysville. A side project of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's initiative, it's bringing volunteers, fresh paint and a whole lot of heart to the community.
The site chosen for the project was Pine Street. Habitat for Humanity Yuba Sutter is turning teamwork into transformation, revitalizing the street and gifting a home to someone who truly needs it.
"If you look around you, it's Tuesday, and all of these people are choosing to be here to help somebody they've never even met," said volunteer Nicholas Tanguay.
Roughly 50 volunteers hustled to bring new life to Pine Street, one house at a time, in less than a week.
The Rural Rally initiative aims to shed light on the need for affordable housing in rural America, and the Yuba-Sutter region was chosen for the kick-off.
"All of this that we're doing is at no cost to anybody: the exterior paint, the landscaping, the debris removal, the fence installation, cutting down trees that are growing into the homes," said Camille Benner, director of family services at Habitat for Humanity Yuba-Sutter.
"I was speechless, and that's really hard to catch me speechless. I'm getting a new fence and two new gates, so that means the PG&E guy can get in without holding my gate up all day," said homeowner Dianne Fink.
Most of the funding is coming from community sponsors, but it goes beyond beautifying the street. One house is being flipped and given to someone in need.
"The target market is a veteran or someone with lived experience with homelessness that has really shown they can maintain affordable housing through rentals," Benner said.
But during their work, they realized the house was in pretty bad shape. So it's becoming more than a revamp.
"We removed everything down to the sheetrock. We removed the flooring. We removed the kitchen cabinets," said Robbie Foster, operations director with Habitat for Humanity Yuba-Sutter. "So we're going to have to put all that back, so really it's a total remodel inside."
Habitat for Humanity Yuba-Sutter said the house should be finished within the next few weeks, and the appliance company Whirlpool is donating new refrigerators and ovens for each house on the street.
"We have a lot of poverty here, we have a lot of homelessness here, and to have this going on is a beautiful thing. Come on, look around. It doesn't get better," Tanguay said.
On Thursday, a closing celebration for the project will take place on the street. Habitat for Humanity Yuba-Sutter said they hope to get someone moved into the flipped house by Christmas.