At the end of Greenwood Street in the Sunset subdivision west of Starkville, Katie Marie Gray stood in her kitchen Tuesday morning as more than a dozen people wandered about her house.
Some peeked into bedrooms and bathrooms while others admired the home”s shiny wood floors and cabinets. And while many in the group were strangers viewing the home for the first time, others were volunteers who spent the past three months building the one-story, 1,300-square-foot Mississippi State University Maroon Edition Habitat for Humanity house for Randle and her two sons, Mark Allen Pittman and Scottie Pittman. The family moved into the house on Saturday and a dedication ceremony was held Tuesday.
“It”s so wonderful,” Gray said. “We are really enjoying our new home.”
Scottie Pittman is a student at Starkville High School and Mark Allen Pittman attends Mississippi State. Because Mark Allen has muscular dystrophy, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built to be handicapped-accessible. The family lived previously in the Rockhill community.
Gray, an employee of the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, was required to put her own “sweat equity” into construction of the house, but said Tuesday she did so gladly, whether it meant cleaning around the structure or climbing up on the roof to help lay shingles.
“That”s what makes this even more special, being out here with everybody just about every day and seeing the love and the time they put into it,” Gray said. “It”s good working with good Christian folks. We all started to feel just like a family out here.”
Freddie Rasberry, executive director of the Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity, commended Gray for her work on the house and said her smile and laugh kept the construction site upbeat.
“Usually by the time we get to this place in a house, the homeowners are ready to see us go and we”re ready to see them go, but in Katie”s case, that really has not been the case,” Rasberry said.
More than 500 volunteers, many of whom were Mississippi State students, worked on the home at 265 Greenwood St. It is located next door to the first MSU Maroon Edition Habitat for Humanity house, which was completed last year.
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