After a year of living in a friend’s home, Eleanor Bennett is ready to move back into her own new home after her last house burned in a small wildfire last August.
Last August, Bennett was checking on her door during a strong bout of wind and saw flames moving up her acreage towards her house.
It was later determined that a tree had fallen on a power pole which sparked the flames.
Since then she has been allowed to live at a friend’s home not far away, but soon her friend is coming back to town and she needs a place of her own.
That’s where the community of Quick has come in and work is underway to get a brand new home up and ready to move in by the end of June.
The contact for the project is Ken Penner and he’s been busy trying to secure donations of money and supplies.
“It’s just coming together,” he said about the project, which has been well underway for weeks now.
A class from Houston Christian School even came by one day and collected left over debris from the property to get it ready for a new foundation.
Bennett picked out a general floor plan for the house herself from the Internet and Penner said John DeWitt put it together into a solid plan that has passed approval by the building inspector.
Penner said there is about $25,000 worth of material they still need to come in before everything can be finished but they didn’t let that hold up the start of construction.
A partial list of things they still need are electrical supplies to wire the home, some plumbing supplies, a pedestal bathroom sink, bathroom cabinet and trim for the house.
They could also use more hands in carpentry and in plumbing.
Eleanor has lived on the property for 43 years, and her home had only one previous owner when she took possession of it.
She said past owners lost their title to the property and she made a move to purchase it when it reverted to Crown Land. She didn’t get all the acreage it was initially however, only getting five acres out of the 80 available around it.
Despite losing her home, she has kept a high spirited attitude through the whole ordeal.
“You’ve got to think positive,” she said.
If anyone has anything to offer, including money, they can call Ken Penner at 250-846-5439. Tax receipts are available.