A Place Called Victory

Honey James and Eddie Ray Jackson didn't know each other, but had a few things in common. Both worked for the Louisiana State University Health Science Center in Monroe. Eddie Jackson started out in food service prep and Honey James was a nursing assistant. Both worked hard but had trouble finding safe, affordable housing�a scarce commodity in Monroe.

Honey James' son works to build his family's new home.

In the 2005 American Community Survey census update, poverty was 22.8% and median household income was $34,291. But Eddie and Honey had dreams. They worked hard to make a better life for their children and hoped someday to live in a home of their own.

Honey lived in substandard rental housing with her fifteen-year-old son and five-year-old niece. The house was neither secure nor safe. The front door wouldn't lock and they suffered multiple break-ins. Hoping for a better life, she attended school to get her Licensed Practical Nursing degree and began to dream of a home of her own, a safe place to raise her children.

Eddie Ray Jackson on a blue ribbon day - his house dedication.

Eddie was raising two sons, 14 and 13. He, too, was making progress in his career and wanted to give his family a better home through the gift of homeownership with all the security and economic stability it provides.

Both found their way to Habitat for Humanity of Ouachita. They applied for Habitat's homeownership program and began to work with volunteers from across the community to build new houses, earning �sweat equity� toward their own homeownership.

Honey James with her son and daughter.

Ouachita Habitat had a dream, too: A new subdivision called �Victory Place�. On six and a half acres of donated land, they envisioned 21 new houses, with seven units to be built in Phase 1 and fourteen more in Phase 2.

It was an ambitious plan for this nonprofit, but the pieces began to fall into place. The City of Monroe provided community development funding for streets and drainage infrastructure improvements for the new subdivision. Ainsworth Lumber Company, a leading Canadian forest products company, committed to sponsor homes in Victory Place. Area churches, businesses and civic organizations donated materials and volunteers, and in 2006, this patch of land began to sprout houses in a leafy neighborhood on South 29th Street.

Corporate Sponsor Ainsworth Lumber delivers on its promise of support.

As the houses took shape, so did the dreams of Honey and Eddie. Honey got her LPN license and became a practical nurse for the hospital; Eddie was promoted and trained to a radiation tech assistant. In their spare time, they worked on new homes for themselves and others. Then, in the spring of 2007, their paths would cross again. They became next-door neighbors, homeowners in a place called Victory.

Habitat volunteers show their enthusiasm from the roof of a new home.

�Habitat changed my life!� said Eddie at his home dedication, his smile telling the story of another family experiencing the joy of homeownership. As for Honey, her children have rooms of their own in a safe, secure, decent environment, with neighbors who helped them build their dreams.

Victory. What a great name for a neighborhood of new homeowners.

Habitat for Humanity of Ouachita (http://www.hfho.org/)