Sarpy Habitat to work in hurricane area
By: Jill Kathrein, Leader staff writer
02/28/2006

Patty Liekus is going to Mississippi to build houses for Habitat for Humanity of Sarpy County.

When she comes back to Bellevue, she'll continue to enjoy all the benefits of her own house, built, too, by local volunteers.

She and her kids, Ashley, 16, and Daniel, 14, used to live in a two-bedroom apartment.

"If it wasn't for Habitat, I'd still be living in an apartment," said Liekus, who had used the dining room as her bedroom and had hung sheets to separate it from the living room and kitchen in her apartment.

She has earned a house from Habitat for Humanity at 2506 Monroe St. in South Omaha, which she has moved into a week ago. It has three bedrooms, enough for everyone, even mom, to have their own space.

"I love it," said Liekus.

It was three years ago her friend, Tracy Lewis, told her Habitat for Humanity was accepting applications. Liekus had not heard of Habitat, but one week later she was attending a meeting for applicants.

She suspected her chances of being accepted were slim, and imagined 500 applicants to be in attendance. She was pleasantly surprised, however, to see only about 10 applicants.

Her friend Lewis was "just happy I got accepted," said Liekus, adding, "If it wasn't for her I'd still be in the apartment."

An accepted applicant must work 250 hours building houses for Habitat for Humanity to earn a home, thus part of the joy in the trip to Pearlington, Miss.

"They had me paint quite a bit," said Liekus of the last three years she's been working for Habitat since she was accepted to earn a house.

Another person heading south is John Taylor, who accompanied a mission group from Thanksgiving Lutheran Church in Bellevue just three weeks ago.

This trip will offer different duties for him, however.

"We ended up gutting a lot of houses, anything form sheetrock to the cupboards, carpets and doors, just gutted them completely," he said.

Now with Habitat, they'll be spending time building houses with a group of about 20, including four from Bellevue.
Taylor said Liekus' story is a great one because she'll finish the required sweat-equity hours that are a part of her getting a local Habitat house.

Earning a home from Habitat for Humanity has made Liekus' future look brighter.

"I want to go back to school for surgical tech," said Liekus, who didn't think she would before her Habitat experience.

Liekus left for Mississippi Saturday and plans to return home Saturday, in between which she will complete the final hours required by her during the week.

"It is sad. A lot of people lost their homes," Liekus said of effects of Hurricane Katrina.

Habitat for Humanity is paying for her trip to Mississippi through fund-raising efforts.

Habitat for Humanity of Sarpy County built 14 homes since 1996, and is in progress on houses 15 and 16. Its purpose is to eliminate poverty housing and build good houses, which economically disadvantaged families can afford. They sell them to families at cost and charge no interest.

"This is in addition to the work we're doing in Sarpy County," said Margaret Stamp, Executive Director at Habitat for Humanity in Sarpy County. "We will continue to focus on building in Sarpy County, we have not forgotten about the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

"We will continue to look for ways to rebuild the lives of those affected by the hurricane by building houses there."

- Zachary Baehr contributed to this story.