Article by Linda Charlton
Habitat for Humanity Lake-Sumter Youth Construction Academy in partnership with local schools, community partners and affiliates broke ground on the construction of a home located at 212 N. Florida Ave., Mascotte on August 31, 2021.
There are 12 students in this year’s construction team. Most of them were at the ceremony. All have taken at least one construction class in the academy. Two were part of last year’s construction team.
One of those is senior Dayton Driggers. Noting that his summer job was in construction, he said “I’m back here because I enjoy the class. “The other repeat team member is junior Hayley Kintner. “I just love creating with my hands, and building a house for someone,” she said.
There were multiple officials on hand for the ceremony on Tuesday, some addressing the crowd, others staying in the audience. Mascotte acting city manager Dolly Miller thanked all for attending, adding that “I’m sure the homeowners who get [the house] will love and cherish it.”
The new homeowners were unable to attend the ceremony, as both were at work; but their future neighbors, Mark and Mindy Owen, in the Habitat home already completed, were on hand. The two fully expect to be provide some sweat equity in the new home, just like they did with own home. As Mindy says “We will poke our heads out the window … and volunteer.”
The Habitat projects have various sponsors within the construction industry. Several were on hand, and addressed the crowd. One of those was Ron Milejczak, representing Kalos Services. Kalos is the air conditioning sponsor for the house.
Directing his remarks to the students, Milejczak said “this is real world experience. I would have loved to have this when I got my first job at 18. I would have had a heads up … This is an outstanding operation.”
Also addressing the students, school district college/career readiness specialist Lynnea Weissman said “It is an honor to be able to help build a home and to work beside those tradesmen and build relationships.”
Habitat started its high-school partnering program in 2018. South Lake’s joined the program was last year. The other schools in the program are The Villages Charter High School, Leesburg High and Eustis High. Habitat bought the property in Mascotte in 2019. Eventually, there will be four Habitat homes there, side by side, on that one block on Thomas Street.
The home just started in Mascotte will be a 3-bedroom 2-bath home with 1,207 square feet, comparable to the one finished earlier this year, but with different elevations — an effort to avoid any ‘cookie-cutter’ effect.
There has been a construction academy at South Lake High School for well over 20 years. Program head Jared Fullerton is himself a graduate of South Lake, where he was a construction student.
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Habitat for Humanity Lake-Sumter is a nonprofit organization that helps provide affordable housing to families and builds strong and stable communities. City of Mascotte officials participated in the groundbreaking ceremony and proudly support Habitat for Humanity as well as other local housing projects in the community.
