QUILCENE — The reader board at the school announces “Habitat is coming to Quilcene,” and the news excited the tiny community enough to draw a turnout of about 75 supportive souls on a dark weekday night.
Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County is indeed coming, offering the hope of renewal for South County households in need.
The local Habitat, whose home ownership program has built two homes a year for low-income families in Port Townsend since its inception in 1998, won a place in the national organization’s pilot program to branch out and offer other services in Quilcene.
“It’s a real windfall for this community,” said resident Bob Rosen at the community meeting Thursday at the Quilcene Community Center.
No one is saying for certain exactly what the three-year Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative will offer.
That will be decided by local Habitat leaders after they see the results of a door-to-door survey of the approximately 165 households in the core area they’ve chosen to focus on, but discussion at Thursday’s community meeting focused on home repairs.
Home repairs
There are leaky roofs, rotting porches, bad walks and driveways, and a significant number of proud, independent people used to making do on their own, Dave Steelquist reminded his neighbors.
“What would help is that people who know people that could use some help start talking to them and soften them up.”
There are also people living without potable water and relying on the local park to fill up their containers, others with failing septics or none at all and worried that their shaky code status could be revealed if they reach out for help, several commenters noted.
Habitat Executive Director Jamie Maciejewski assured people that Habitat is not in the business of reporting people for code violations but cautioned that it also must comply with codes and required permitting in all the work it does.
“What we’re about is simple, decent housing. Wells and plumbing are part of that,” she said.
Habitat can be an advocate as well as an information resource for people who may qualify for other sources of assistance, she said.
The U.S. Census Bureau designates the unincorporated community of Quilcene to be about 10 square miles and as of the 2000 Census included 243 households with 591 people.
Habitat chose somewhat smaller boundaries for an area encompassing 165 households to help concentrate its efforts where the most population and services are concentrated, Maciejewski said.
Will visit homes
Volunteer survey teams of two will visit each home Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13, to get answers to a short questionnaire.
People who may not be home during the survey period can also fill out a questionnaire at the community center at 294952 U.S. Highway 101.
By late spring, Habitat expects to announce what services it will concentrate on in the community, then spend the summer formalizing partnerships with established entities like schools, churches and businesses with programs to begin by late summer.
Habitat for Humanity International in June selected the East Jefferson County affiliate, making the local agency one of 55 affiliates nationwide, and one of only five rural affiliates in the country, to pilot the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative.
Habitat choose Quilcene last year for the local program.
More information is available from Cassandra Little, the AmeriCorp Vista volunteer liaison for Quilcene, at 360-379-2827 or at www.habitatejc.org.
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Julie McCormick is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. Phone her at 360-385-4645 or e-mail juliemccormick10@gmail.com.
