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Overcast Scouts host housewarming event for local family
Habitat For Humanity of Nassau County, along with the Disability Opportunity Fund, began building a home in Mineola nearly one year ago for the Clarkin family — currently comprised of 12 bilogical siblings, seven of whom are developmentally disabled.
On March 30, the home’s conrtsuction was offficially completed. Members of the West Hempstead/Franklin Square Girl Scouts Association, who have been volunteering alongside local HFH members — participating in actual building tasks as well as providing volunteers with free lunches — surprised the Clarkins at their new home on March 30, in the afternoon, by bringing them dozens of new housewarming gifts, including food, cookware, bathroom items and decorative items.
In addition to local Girl Scouts, members of the H. Frank Carey High School Habitat for Humanity Club volunteered to aid HBF’s construction of the home, located at 84 Westbury Ave. in Mineola.
When the Clarkin siblings’ parents died several years ago, the siblings took over the home. Shortly thereafter, the property fell into a state of disrepair. Fortunately for the family, they were able to receive $175,000 in federal funds from Nassau County’s HOME Investment Partnership Program, as well as a $150,000 line of credit from the DOF and help from local Habitat For Humanity volunteers.
According to HFHNC, the Clarkin family’s new home in Mineola is energy-star-rated and uses “aging-in-place” design concepts that will increase the likelihood that each member of the family can remain independent. The designs include wider doorways and staircases to accommodate wheelchairs and wheelchair lifts and state-of-the-art technology to allow for the future installation of cameras and an intercom system, if necessary.
On March 30, in the morning, several residents and local leaders, including Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss, participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 30, outside of the Clarkins’ new home, in celebration of the home’s completion.
In addition to the Mineola house, HFHNC — which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary — is currently constructing a home in New Cassel for a single mother of four, as well as planning to build a home in Roosevelt.
Nassau residents can apply for HFHNC builds online, through an application process that determines need based on family history and income levels, as well as a family’s willingness to work with Habitat on the construction, and includes several interviews. No down payment is required, and no interest is attached to the standard, 30-year mortgage of HFHNC homes.
For more information on current work by HFHNC, as well as how to apply for a build, visit www.hfhnc.org.
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