Community Corner

Downtown House Soon to Be New Lockport Home

"The House Our Community Built," going up in the parking lot at Cass and Joliet streets, is a Habitat for Humanity fundraising project.

The structure that's starting to take the shape of a house in the parking lot across from in downtown will one day be a home for a Lockport family.

But it's also a fundraiser for Will County Habitat for Humanity, which is building it with volunteer labor and 2-by-4 wooden boards that are being sold for $5 each.

Anyone who purchases a board can write a message to the new owner. Boards will be sold through Sept. 20.

Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The project is called The House Our Community Built, and it's being done in partnership with Harrah's Casino Joliet. It began two weeks ago in the parking lot at the corner of Joliet and Cass streets, according to a media release issued by Habitat for Humanity.

Peace Memorial Church got the work under way be putting up the walls, and this past weekend Midwest Generation volunteers continued the construction and got as far as filling in part of the roof.

Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The building is expected to be ready for dismantling by volunteers from ExxonMobil on Sept. 20, who will move it to an excavated lot at 229 Princeton in Lockport, the release said.

The house will be the future home of Rebekah McMurtry and her 2-year-old son, according to a story in the Joliet Herald-News.

“There are no words that can express the feeling,” McMurtry told the paper. “If it wasn’t for Habitat, I don’t think I could even have a house.”

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