A Place to Call Home

TIM MEEKS/THE INTELLIGENCER

Lynn Bassett fights back tears while being joined by her children Cassie, Hailey, Brett and Trent in thanking the hundreds of volunteers from Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward-Hastings who donated their time and skills to build her family’s beautiful new home at 125 Donald St., Belleville on Friday.

BELLEVILLE – For the first time in almost seven years Lynn Bassett’s children have grass to play on with their dog.
Bassett and her four children, Brett, Hailey, Cassie and Trent, were handed the keys to their beautiful new home at 125 Donald St., Belleville, thanks to the efforts of Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward-Hastings.

The Bassett’s home is one of two Habitat homes that were built on Donald Street in honour of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Project, which in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary, committed to building 150 homes nationwide.

Staff, volunteers, donors and board members gathered Friday to present the first of two Carter Work Project homes to the Bassett family. Lynn, a hardworking single mom, and her four children were thrilled to receive the keys to their new home, which they have been helping to build as part of the mandatory 500 sweat equity hours required by all Habitat families.

Bassett purchased the home at market value, but had no down payment and zero interest on her mortgage because of the 500 sweat equity hours her and her family put into the project, “ and Lynn has done far more than 500 hours of sweat equity,” said Habitat executive director Bob Clute.

“Thanks to everyone who volunteered and donated to this project, without you this wouldn’t have been possible and we are so grateful to everybody,” Bassett said. “Me and my kids now have a safe place to call home and that’s thanks to you. My kids can now play with their dog on grass in their own yard. We haven’t had grass in almost seven years.”

To celebrate the Carter Work Project Build, each Habitat home has a unique lifetime cornerstone to recognize individuals or community groups that have supported Habitat in this project. The cornerstone for the Bassett home is in recognition of Kurt and Carrie Gregoire, both long-time advocates of Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward-Hastings, individually and through their respective business.

“What makes Habitat for Humanity special to us and so many others is the true human effect the organization has on people in our community, and throughout the world,” said Carrie Gregoire. “This is an organization where you can see the impact owning a home has, especially here today, at the dedication.”

“Habitat is so pleased to present Lynn and her children with a place to call home,” Clute said. “Each of them, including the children, have been working hard to achieve their 500 hours of sweat equity. The dedication is the perfect opportunity to show the volunteers, donors and the community as a whole the impact they have on local families when they support Habitat. I am so proud that our community can come together to make these life-changing events a possibility.”

In the past 12 months, Habitat has selected four families — one on Bay Street in Trenton, two on Donald Street in Belleville, and one for an upcoming Trenton build. Habitat has plans to begin a new build in October 2017 at a yet undetermined location.