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| For Release: IMMEDIATE | Contact: Public Affairs |
| Date: December 6, 1999 |
Community Colleges Building Homes for Flood Victims
RALEIGH – Ten Kinston families left homeless by the flood waters of Hurricane Floyd will be in new homes before the end of the year, with luck, in time for Christmas. Volunteer teams from churches, community groups and community colleges will build the houses, supervised by construction instructors from several community colleges.
The North Carolina Community College System and Lenoir Community College have each adopted a house project and will start construction on their houses on December 11. NCCCS President H. Martin Lancaster and members of his staff will build the NCCCS house. Several community college presidents have also expressed interest in building and their staff members may also assist. "This small effort that will make a big difference," said Lancaster. "I am proud of the response of our community college family."
The houses will be built in Kinston under the direction of the Permanent Housing Committee, an organization established by J. Mark Munden, Infrastructure Support Manager with the Division of Emergency Management, Crime Control and Public Safety. Mr. Munden and Dr. Larry Gracie, Associate Director for Institutional Effectiveness and coordinator of flood relief efforts for NCCCS, are the two primary lead persons on the project. The two men have seen first hand the devastation created by the flood and worked tirelessly to make this project come together. Mr. Munden organizes the construction efforts for this project and Dr. Gracie coordinates the community college participants that will build and supervise the construction of the new homes.
Since no homeowner can rebuild on property located in a flood plain, new property must be located. The first step in this Permanent Housing Initiative requires the local municipality to provide the land where the new home can be built.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) buyout money, a maximum of $30,000 paid to each homeowner for their condemned house, is turned over to the Permanent Housing Committee. That group will then use the money to purchase material to build new homes. The material is sold at a reduced rate from several participating building supply companies.
Prison inmates, who were taught construction techniques by their local community colleges, use the purchased material to build the panels and ceiling supports for the new houses. The inmates do the construction at their respective prisons. The panels are then trucked from the prisons to the building site where the volunteer teams will build the houses.
Inmates at five correctional facilities are building the panels. They are: Brown Creek Correctional Institution in Anson County, Piedmont Correctional Institution in Rowan County, Robeson Correctional Center in Robeson County, Odom Correctional Institution in Northhampton County and Pender Correctional Institution in Pender County. Inmates at Lumberton Correctional Institution in Robeson County are building cabinets for the houses.
The construction project began on November 30 and will continue until the first ten are completed. "This is only the beginning, the goal is to have these ten houses lead to many more projects over time," says Dr. Gracie. Approximately 1750 homes are needed for families who were unable to construct their own homes. "We need volunteers to make this work and we need the community leaders to get behind this effort," Gracie emphasizes.
For more information about the Permanent Housing Committee or to volunteer, contact Dr. Larry Gracie at NCCCS, (919) 733-7051 ext. 726 or J. Mark Munden at NC Emergency Management, (919) 733-0795.
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