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Habitat for Humanity breaks ground in Marietta

By Tyler Bennett 3 min read

MARIETTA -- The Mid-Ohio Valley Habitat for Humanity held a groundbreaking ceremony of a new house for the Fogle family at 634 Ninth Street in Marietta on Thursday evening.

The house will be Habitat's 109th home in the Mid-Ohio Valley and will be the first built in Marietta since the Wood County and Washington County habitat organizations combined into one in 2016.

While a start date of construction will be determined later, Habitat Executive Director Alvin Phillips hopes to have the foundation in before the winter season sets in.

"We're excited to be able to break ground today with a local family. I don't think I'm nearly as excited as the Fogle family," Phillips said. "I don't remember having the homebuying family countdown on Facebook as much Alicia (Fogle) has been over the last few days. So it's been exciting to watch that and to share that excitement. It's been a long time coming."

A family of three, both the father, Trent, and son, Aiden, are blind so accommodations will be made to the home to ensure the safety for the family, along with mother/wife Alicia Fogle.

Trent Fogle said that not only the help from Habitat and all the sponsors but the move to the new house also wouldn't be possible without the help from his parents Sherrie and Tim Rossiter.

"I got to give credit to my parents, my mom and dad helped get us through a lot of hoops to get to this because we were on a hunt for a house after renting," Fogle said. "We've talked about this and decided to do it. I never dreamed that we would become part of such a wonderful organization."

WV Central Federal Credit Union is sponsoring its sixth house with MOV Habitat, to go with Marietta Community Foundation, and Marietta Lions Club contributing towards the house.

"It's a real pleasure for us to be here in Marietta, being able to help sponsor, we're very excited for the Fogle family. We just really love supporting the homes and the families and we look forward to not only continuing to support financially, but we're also going to come and help work on the home." WV Central Federal Credit Union CEO Mike Tucker said.

"On behalf of Marietta Community Foundation, we are excited for the Fogle family. We're excited for this opportunity. We are proud to support these efforts," MCF communications and program services director Mason Beuhring said. "We appreciate Habitat for Humanity for all the work that they do in this area. Their infrastructure is unrivaled by any other organization and we're excited to see this project come to completion."

Habitat for Humanity is a Christian ministry which helps lower-income homebuyers to build and purchase affordable homes. Homebuyers will help build their own homes and then purchase the home with a no-interest, 20-year mortgage.

Among the requirements, potential homeowners must show a need, current housing is inadequate for the family size, unsafe or too expensive, among others. Other requirements include the ability to manage finances, a reliable source of income, and a willingness to partner with Habitat in the building of their home and others. Each adult must complete as much as 200 hours of "sweat equity." Candidates must also fall within the minimum and maximum income guidelines to qualify, depending on the number of people in the household.

Contact Tyler Bennett at tbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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