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Tornado-damaged homes need more than Brush with Kindness
The Willard Hay Neighborhood on the North Side of Minneapolis is full of single-family homes built, for the most part, in the early 20th Century. On...
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A bright yellow T-Shirt.
That’s how Gashaw Ayele learned about Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHFH). He was working as a pharmacy technician when he noticed the Habitat logo on a customer’s shirt. She was a Habitat volunteer.
“I gave her my cell phone number, and the next day she called me with Habitat’s phone number,” he recalls with a smile.
That was nearly two years ago. Gashaw and his wife Tangut Alemayehu will officially close on their home just days before Christmas, but this fall they spent their Sundays there playing in the yard with their two children. They’re meeting neighbors and awaiting the move - what Gashaw calls “The best Christmas present ever.”
Gashaw is now a laboratory technician and Tangut is a full-time housekeeper. They work to make ends meet so their children won’t have to work so hard just to breathe.
“It’s very difficult to find the words,” says Gashaw. “The kids’ allergies and asthma are especially bad with the season changes.”
Mold and cockroaches invaded the family’s aging apartment complex. All four of them share a single bedroom – a living situation Gashaw describes as “crazy.”
“Things for kids are very expensive. It’s been hard for us to manage expenses. That’s why we’ve been stuck in our apartment for eight years,” he explains.
Despite their health difficulties both children are doing well in school. Their 10-year-old son, Woldemedkin, is talented in math and Gashaw is sure their 6-year-old daughter, Tsion, will become an artist.
The parents are setting the example when it comes to education. Thanks to the added stability of being homeowners, they hope to earn college degrees at North Hennepin Community College near their new home in New Hope.
“Our goal is to get better job security. We will then go to school while working part-time and get a better future.”
Their partnership with Habitat remains strong. Though Gashaw has already completed his sweat equity hours, he plans to continue volunteering at the ReStore.
“It’s like your own family,” he says of Habitat staff. “They are just very, very helpful.”
By Laura Grevas
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