Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Son keeps promise and gets mom new home built

There's nothing quite like the feeling of walking into a brand new house  especially if it's yours.

Jessie Mae Mixon, 81, of Willisville, had the chance to experience the feeling recently, as she moved into a house built just for her. It was made possible through the South Arkansas Community Development (SACD) program, of Arkadelphia.

According to Ashley Harris, with the SACD, the organization is non-profit and began about four years ago when SACD President Tedi Gardner did some research on the Internet and found ways to help people help themselves through the United Stated Department of Agriculture (UDSA).

The SACD's program is sweat equity, somewhat akin to Habitat for Humanity, in the person or family the home is being built for must work on it themselves at least 20 hours per week.

As Mixon was physically unable to contribute the labor, her son, David, stepped in and did the work for her. He was determined to build his mother a new house and had promised to do so when he retired and returned to Arkansas. He worked with the city of Long Beach, Calif., and was gone more than 50 years.

"When I came back I tried to work on the old house," he said, "but it was too far gone, so we started from scratch and built a new house through the SACD program."

Jessie Mae said she'd lived in shacks and shanties all her life, and there were several times she had to put pots and pans out to catch water from the leaky roofs.

"I'm thrilled," she said. "I'm so proud I don't have the tongue to say how proud I am. I didn't think it would happen."

Getting the house built was a long drawn out process, David said. There was a lot of going back and forth before work began. "I was determined to do it. She'd lived in the old house 52 years and it had been moved here from a couple of miles down the road."

There were several meetings to attend before David was able to meet with a contractor. When they met the contractor, plans for the house were drawn up and it was time to start building.

"It's great," Jessie Mae said. "The Lord is blessing me. If it weren't for Him this wouldn't have been done. I'm proud of my son and his wife, they jumped in and helped me."

The house, a three bedroom, two bath with a combination living/dining room and kitchen, is 1,120 square feet and features a safe room for severe weather.

Harris said the sweat equity is in place of a down payment as many low to moderate income families can't come up with 20 percent required by most lending agencies.

All of the homes built, she said, are energy efficient and feature a safe room. In fact, the safe room is required.

"We try to build quality homes and improve the quality of a person's life," she said. "A lot of our clients come from living in dilapidated houses where they were wasting money on utility bills."

Families can pick where they build. They can either already own the land, or the SACD will purchase it for them, with the family buying it back after the close. The family pays the same price for the property the SACD purchased it for.

The family chooses the floor plan and color schemes to be used. In Mixon's case, she went with white throughout the house.

"This is the fifth house we've built in Nevada County," Harris said. "In all, we've built 60 homes in six counties."

Harris explained the process the Mixon's went through to get Jessie Mae's new home. First, she said, they called the Rural Development Agency as they'd gone through it to have work done on the old house before. David knew the old house wasn't in good shape and looked into other avenues.

Chester Gant, with the RDA, told David about the SACD program. David made the call and the rest, as it's said, is history, with the end result being a son keeping his promise to build his mother a new house.

Harris said it takes four to six months to build a house from the ground up, depending on how much time the family has to pitch in and work.

Most of the work is done by licensed contractors, such as plumbers, carpenters and electricians, to make sure the structure is sound and meets state building codes.

Harris said families must qualify, and this is done through income statements, credit checks and debt ratio.

When asked about her first night in the new house, Jessie Mae said, "I just laid here and looked at the ceiling. I couldn't believe I was living in a new house.

"I was so excited I had to get up and wonder if this was really Jessie Mae in a new house. I thanked the Lord for giving me a son who cares for me."

She said she's sleeping better now, but still wakes up and looks around, just to make sure it's not a dream.