Students, women to build Habitat home

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
July 11, 2002
Students from Mississippi State University's School of Architecture have been documenting the neighborhood around Fifth Street and 55th Avenue for a Habitat for Humanity house they will design.
Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity will construct the house through its Women Build program beginning in September. Homes in the Women Build program are built entirely by women.
MSU students Elisabeth Lacey of Columbus and David Brawner of Corinth have been taking pictures and mapping the community near the construction site.
The students are scheduled to complete a design for the home by Aug. 1. The construction is scheduled to begin Sept. 13. Ground-breaking and site-blessing ceremonies will be scheduled sometime in August.
Joe Hagerman, lecturer and intern architect with MSU's School of Architecture, said the documenting of the neighborhood is important because it gives students a feel for the area.
The home will be built for Kimberly Lloyd of Meridian.
Fonda Rush, executive director of Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity, announced Wednesday that Laisha Pickering, wife of U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, will be spokesperson and honorary chairman for the local Women Build project.
Rush also announced the project has been approved for a $20,000 grant from Habitat for Humanity International's Women Build Department.
She said a meeting for women in Lauderdale County and the surrounding area who are interested in participating in the project is set for Union Station at 5:30 p.m. on July 18.
For more information, people may call Becky Davey at 485-4805 or Betty Lou Jones at 482-0166.
The upcoming construction will be the third Women Build project for Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity and the 38th house constructed by the local organization since it began in 1989.