PANAMA CITY — A Bay County woman will receive a free and brand new house built entirely by caring members of the community.
A group of community members met Monday to discuss the construction of the new home for Pamela Myers, a mother of two who lost her husband to heart problems in January.
“Different ones are coming together to make sure I have a safe home,” said Pamela Myers. “It was God.”
The impact of her husband’s death could be seen in the steadily rotting condition of their mobile home at 1508 Louisiana Ave.
“It was old, dry rotted and deteriorated,” Myers said. “It got so old until rain was pouring over the light switch.”
Myers said her family had not always lived in the mobile home, but after she became disabled in 2008 and was no longer able to work, the couple could no longer make payments on their house and, as a result, bought the trailer.
“Out of love,” Myers recalled Jack Whetstine, owner of The House that Jack Built, saying to her, “we’re going to build you a house.”
Whetstine, who specializes in building energy-efficient homes, knew the Myers through a previous bathroom installation he did at their mobile home earlier this year.
“That place was clean as a pen. You could eat off the floor,” Whetstine said. “She was doing her best to keep things tight and right. … I ended up looking at her situation and decided to go ahead and help her.”
According to Whetstine, he realized the condition of Myers’ home over the phone.
“I didn’t know to what extent it was,” Whetstine said, “until she started coughing a lot more. … It was because of mildew.
“I’m going to donate all my time, energy, and whatever else I can do to help her,” he added.
With the help of the community, Whetstine is expecting to donate $140,000 toward building Myers’ new home.
However, the community members are the key players. The Monday meeting brought in a handful of people; Faye Gause, spokeswoman for John Lee Nissan, and Bay County Commissioners Bill Dozier and Kenneth Brown were among those present.
“I’m not here because of Bay County; I am here because I’m a friend of Pam,” Dozier said.
Brown, another friend, said he wanted to help Myers in any way he could.
Whetstine said the house will be built in stages, and at each stage, community members can take part in helping to build the home.
“We need the community to come out on this one,” Whetstine said.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom energy-efficient house will have a fireplace, screened-in back porch and a double-car garage.
Whetstine said he is looking for a variety of volunteer workers to help out with the construction of the house. The project will need trim carpenters, painters, plumbers and electricians.
In a typical situation, building a modest house as Myers would take anywhere from 90 to 120 days, Whetstine said. However, with the construction of the house being in the hands of the volunteers, it is unclear when the project will be complete.
“Just being able to have people from the community getting involved with it … I think it will be a pretty exciting thing to do because we’re Americans that try to help people, and I believe that is what we are trying to do with her,” Whetstine said.
Whetstine said donations of building materials also will be needed. Community members interested in helping to build the house should contact Whetstine at 769-3737 or 769-6441.
Currently Myers is living on Tyndall Air Force Base with her goddaughter awaiting the completion of her new home.
Read more: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/panama-105567-widow-build.html#ixzz26y1RTiSp
