VALDOSTA — Volunteers and staff with the Valdosta-Lowndes County Habitat for Humanity broke ground on a home for a longtime friend of the Valdosta community Friday.
The house, located at 405 S. Lee St., is expected to be complete in mid-May, which will serve as a birthday present for the home’s new owners, Hoyt and Elizabeth Redding.
“Her birthday is on May 7, and my birthday is on May 8,” Hoyt said. “This is the best birthday gift we could have.”
Hoyt and Elizabeth have been working toward their house by donating volunteer hours to help with other Habitat for Humanity homes — a job commonly referred to as “sweat equity” — for several months. Although Hoyt is blind and Elizabeth is in a wheelchair and has epilepsy, the couple never asked for special treatment and did their part to make sure they got their home.
Habitat Executive Director Stuart Mullis called the Reddings’ efforts “amazing.”
“No matter what, Hoyt kept saying that he was going to get this done because he loves his wife and she
deserves a home,” Mullis said. “Lowe’s had donated some boxes to us with 80 pounds of busted nuts, bolts and screws. Hoyt separated all of them by feeling them just so his wife could have a better place to live.”
Elizabeth did her part by preparing Christmas cards and thank-you notes on behalf of Habitat.
Hoyt and Elizabeth have been married for 31 years. The couple moved to Valdosta in July 1994.
Several people may remember Hoyt for the snack bar he ran inside the U.S. Post Office in downtown Valdosta for several years.
“I opened my business in 1995, but I had to close it last August because it just wasn’t doing well anymore,” Hoyt said.
Hoyt said that moving into the new home is like starting a new chapter in life.
When asked about the first thing she plans to do after moving in, Elizabeth said, “I’m going to stay in the wheelchair-accessible shower until someone drags me out, so we might have a high water bill the first month. This is the first time I have been in a home with a wheelchair-accessible shower for more than 20 years.”
The Reddings expressed their appreciation for Habitat and the organization’s charitable efforts.
“We think the program that Habitat offers is wonderful and pray that it continues even through these difficult economic times,” Elizabeth said. “There are several people like us who need the types of homes Habitat builds and offers to make us feel more independent. The mortgage is affordable, and the time we put in makes us feel like we are a part of building our own home. We have been through a lot as a couple, but having this home is the last piece of icing on our cake. I just ask that the public continues to make Habitat a top priority by donating and giving sweat hours.”
Habitat has built more than 160 homes in Valdosta and Lowndes County.
The Reddings’ home is one of four houses that are currently under construction. Mullis said that before the year is over, Habitat plans to build 12 to 15 homes in the community. Volunteers on the Reddings’ home included several members of the Home Builders Association of South Georgia.
Local News
Related Photos
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Hoyt Redding and his wife of 31 years, Elizabeth, are getting a new home on South Lee Street in Valdosta with the help of Habitat for Humanity.
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Valdosta State University and Valdosta-Lowndes County Habitat for Humanity volunteer Darius Rankine works on framing the Reddings' home on South Lee Street Friday.
Discussion
A big birthday gift
Couple realizes dream of home ownership with Habitat for Humanity
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