By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – As East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Debbie Crouch concentrates on an especially important house to build, she must look back on her life and see that she has come full circle.
Crouch has been the director for the Slidell-area Habitat since 2008, picking up the organization following a wild ride in the years after Hurricane Katrina. Things have settled down these days to a normal pace for Habitat, but one of their next homes promises to be extra special, not to mention “emotional” for the entire Habitat family—and especially for Crouch.
This year, Habitat has begun preparations for a home they call their “Veteran’s Build,” which will be a house for a special soldier selected to be the homeowner. The individual needs to fit the financial requirements, not to mention the needed sweat equity for the home. Crouch said they are still taking applications for the house that will break ground on West Hall Avenue on November 11.
But for Crouch, who constantly has her hands full with the busy Habitat for Humanity operation, the Veteran’s Build is certainly going to have special meaning to her since she grew up in a military family. Her husband was in the Army and her father was a longtime Navy veteran.
“I was taught very early to have a love for country and appreciation for our military,” she said. “That’s never changed for me.”
Crouch knows that many people support our military, but her love for the country goes so deep that she admits to feeling upset when some singers perform the Star Spangled Banner in a way that doesn’t show total respect to the song and our country.
“I still tear up every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner and I actually get mad when some artists sing the song before a sports event, and make it more about themselves than singing the song properly,” she said.
Habitat is focusing on the Veteran’s Build home right now, raising funds for it as they are selling raffle tickets for a basket which will have over $2,500 in gift cards to area stores and restaurants. They are currently accepting donations of cash or gift cards for the basket and selling raffle tickets for $5 each, or three for $10. You can get the raffle tickets at the Habitat office at 747 Old Spanish Trail.
Besides the Veteran’s Build home, October and November are always busy months for the Habitat staff as Crouch is preparing for their annual “Home is Where the Art Is” fundraiser, set for Friday, Nov. 22 at the Northshore Harbor Center. It will help the Habitat mission to continue, after building 131 houses to date and always having several in the works. But the reason Crouch said she decided to join up with Habitat had a lot to do with the principles of the national organization, which makes it anything but a charity program.
“I was taught in my life that if you want something, you have to work for it and Habitat is all about that. Habitat doesn’t give away houses. We help people afford them by requiring sweat equity from the homeowner,” she said. “Habitat homeowners are people who work, but don’t make enough to qualify for a house, so we help fill in the gap with volunteer help, and it puts people into the position of becoming homeowners.”
Crouch said that when she finished working in the family business, she started her own promotional items business in Slidell, Deep South Designs that continues in operation today. But being the person she is—unable to sit at the house without something to keep her busy—she was intrigued by a note in the St. Margaret Mary bulletin one week in church, seeking volunteers for Habitat.
“I saw it the first time and thought about it, but didn’t do anything. Then I saw it the second month, and then the third month,” she said. “Finally I figured God was trying to tell me what to do.”
She came on board with Habitat in 2003 as a volunteer, slowly working her way up to assistant director and in 2008, “was asked to be the director,” she said. “Needless to say, the years after Katrina were pretty crazy so I figured that if I could make it through that, I could make it through anything.”
During the post-Katrina years, the Slidell Habitat group had as many as 57 houses under construction at one time.
“I took the job because I love families and I love this program,” she said. “It’s not a giveaway program.”
The Veterans Build idea came from a different program she became aware of, which involved veterans getting jobs here after 9/11. Two of those men suggested the idea of a house especially for a veteran who qualified.
Anyone who donates a gift card to the basket will also be given the opportunity to stop by the Veteran’s Build home once it is framed up, and write a message of love on one of the house studs.
“All our homes are built with love, but this one will really be built with some extra-special love,” Crouch added.
The drawing for the basket will be held at the Nov. 22 gala at the Harbor Center. Tickets for that event are $50 per person or $75 per couple and can be purchased at the East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity Office. With a limited number of tickets available and a sellout anticipated, early purchase is recommended.
For more information about Habitat for Humanity, the Habitat ReStore or the Home is Where the Art Is gala, call (985) 639-0656 or visit the website at esthfh.org.