Posted Wednesday, December 9, 2020 2:00 pm
Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland dedicated a new home on Dec. 3 in honor of homeowner Anthea Blair and her three children.
This home, which marks the 144th home built in Bradley County, has been named the Heroes Build home.
There was a celebration ceremony inside the Victory Cove Subdivision at Franitza Way, with limited attendance on Thursday, and the ceremony was also livestreamed on Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland’s Facebook page.
Blair’s journey from a tent to a real home at first took a few “baby steps,” but in her case the trek was a “go” in a relatively short time.
When she and her three children left her husband, they lived in a tent for about three months during the summer of that year. Anthea was determined to not depend on anyone else. She wanted to be sure that she would never go back to a situation that caused her to prefer a tent over the home she once had.
A friend of Blair’s brother had what she described as an “old run-down trailer” on a piece of property he owned. The trailer needed to be gutted, but the owner said that if she was willing to fix it up, she could buy it from him.
Blair paid to have it fixed as much as possible, and the family patched walls and tried to fix leaks. In the cramped trailer, the family’s washroom was part of the pantry and there were only two bedrooms.
Blair’s father converted a large closet space into a "bedroom" for her teenage son, Ryan. Blair’s two teenage daughters — Delia and Abigail — shared one of the bedrooms. With a leaky roof, the family has battled a constant mold problem.
Once she began her journey in earnest, the family’s path to a new home accelerated. Blair was soon told she would be able to purchase a Habitat home in 2021.
Then to her surprise, that date was moved up to 2020; then back to 2021, due to challenges getting subcontractors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the Tennessee Cares Act, a grant was secured to give the family the miracle for which many had been praying. The grant provided for Frank Thaggard, owner of Pyramid Construction, to have his crew manage the construction for a home to be built from the ground up and completed this month.
Blair said, "This was the grace of God that everything fell into place and one of the greatest moments, next to having my kids."
She has had a lot of support from her church and family to help her in her steps toward freedom, safety and home ownership.
“It's not about me having a nice decent home," she said. "I want a home for my kids. It's something they deserve. What we went through has made us stronger. It's led us to something that's going to be so great for us. I'm so grateful for this. I'm really thankful for opportunities like this for people like me,who just want to do more and better for their families."
Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland seeks to put God’s love into action by bringing people together to build and repair homes, communities and hope. For more information about Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland and the ReStore, visit habitatofcleveland.org or restoreofcleveland.org.
