Last minute touch ups were still going on in the light mud outside the home in Hollygrove just an hour before Fuzzae Williams arrived for his home dedication on an unusually chilly March morning. In the backyard, his friends and family were setting up for a crawfish boil and welcoming party, and volunteers were gathering out front from other NOAHH work sites to join the celebration of Williams’ new home. As family and friends of Williams, NOAHH volunteers, and staff waited for the ceremony to begin, they shared stories of working with him on site and at the ReStore during his sweat equity, of his hard work and his warm personality and his dedication to his job as a cab driver in New Orleans.
Williams, a father of one and lifelong New Orleans resident, dedicated his efforts to his late grandmother Josephine, who shared his dream of homeownership. His mother was on hand to perform the home blessing during the ceremony, and many of his other family members joined him on he porch and presented him house warming presents to go along with the traditional, symbolic dedication gifts of bread, wine, flowers, tools, the Bible, and keys.
The home was made possible through the Fund for Humanity, a fund created by the mortgage payments made by NOAHH homeowners currently working toward homeownership. Monthly payments from the homeowners go toward a no-interest mortgage, home and flood insurance, and an annual termite contract, and the mortgage fund composes the Fund for Humanity. Partner families work 350 hours of “sweat equity” in lieu of a down payment in the NOAHH program.
To see the progress of Williams’ home, take a look at our build gallery!”