Habitat recipient ready to call house a home

Thanksgiving is usually centered around food, the first element of the three basic needs: food, shelter and clothing.

Christina Siskron of Altoona has been thinking more of shelter this year.

Not that she's out in the cold - she lives in Cherry Grove Apartments in Logantown, her home for eight years.

But she's on the verge of moving into her own place at East Cherry Avenue and First Street, as a recipient of the next Habitat for Humanity House in Blair County.

"I can't wait," she said.

She's waited a long time already, having gotten approval from Habitat as a recipient in mid-2007.

The organization builds houses for people in need who qualify with a decent credit rating, a steady job and a willingness to help on the project. Local chapter President Santa Mosey said they want to get Siskron and sons Kyle, 10, and Jacob, 8, in by Christmas.

The kids can't wait either, Siskron said.

There have been multiple delays, however.

Initially, they were from weather, building codes and property boundaries.

Later, money was an issue as material prices escalated, Mosey said.

Then tools got stolen in December and a construction supervisor resigned because of health.

A new supervisor has taken over, however. Tom Deily of Claysburg volunteered after learning about the burglary.

"Wouldn't it be nice if I could just come on in there and help?" he asked himself at the time. "So I did."

Siskron is thankful.

"Tom's the guy that actually stepped up and got my house moving," she said. "He's a saint."

Not so, Deily said.

But he admits to being touched by others' misfortune.

He got that way as a restorer of fire and water damage.

"You see how people lose their whole lives," he said. "It breaks your heart."

Particularly the loss of things that represent the past, such as a teddy bear someone had as a kid.

His own sister has a doll from her childhood she still takes to bed, he said.

Siskron is thankful for more than Deily.

"Everything that people have done for me to make this house possible," she said.

She herself has put in the required 300 hours of "sweat equity" and a $500 down payment.

She's helped with construction, painting, lunches and other work, including fundraising.

At times she enjoyed it, at times it was hard.

"I pushed myself," she said. "At the end of the day, I was tired and sore, but it's all worth it."

The kids were too young to be on site for the big things, but they got to help paint, she said.

It's a one-story vinyl-sided structure with an open basement, three bedrooms and a back porch deck.

"A nice size for me," she said.

Still to be done is a siding on the porch, a concrete sidewalk, trim and interior doors, carpeting and touch-up painting, Deily said.

The organization can use more volunteers - both skilled and unskilled - to finish quickly.

Skilled people can do tradework and supervise; unskilled ones can carry materials and work under supervision.

Five or six volunteers have been coming regularly, Deily said. He'd like 15 people on scene for the Saturday workdays, he said.

Anyone interested can call him at 327-1919 or 239-9560.

There have been up to 30 workers at times in the past, he said.

The house was the first of three started last year by the chapter, but it's the only one not finished.

Siskron will pay a 30-year, no-interest mortgage of $300 a month that includes taxes and insurance to cover the nominal cost of materials, according to Mosey.

The actual cost of materials is now about $65,000 per house, although the chapter gets some materials donated.

Appraisals have valued the two other houses at $90,000.

The payoff setup includes a "silent mortgage" for 20 years that is forgiven at 5 percent a year to ensure against a recipient selling a house and making a quick profit.

The chapter plans to hire a construction supervisor through the Experience Works program and start another house next year, Mosey said.

One of his duties will be to solicit donations and discounts for materials and trade labor.

Siskron's house will be the 14th built by the chapter since 1992, Mosey said.

Siskron, 29, born and raised as a child in Florida when her dad was in the military, has never lived in a house owned by her family.

"I'm ready," she said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.