Disability Options Network breaks ground for house
New Castle NewsOct 09, 2018
At least 51 percent of the people that the agency employs have disabilities, and Yeraci had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988.
Now fate apparently is at work again for her, and through the goodwill of the agency, Yeraci soon will have a home of her own.
Disability Options Network, in concert with the county and other public and private agencies and businesses, has been renovating a few dilapidated and blighted homes on the city's
On Monday, members of those agencies assembled in front of an empty lot at
Yeraci, 58, was raised in
Now she will embark on being a homeowner of a house equipped to suit her needs. She was allowed to pick from three house plans.
"I'm very excited that this is all happening for me," she said. "I think now it was the best thing when Jameson laid me off and DON hired me."
DON administrators estimate the house will take about five months to complete. The agency's own team of carpenters are doing the work and the funding is being provided through grants and endowments.
Members of all of the involved agencies and businesses gathered in front of the lot this morning for the formal groundbreaking ceremony.
"It's a milestone," commented Court Hower, DON administrator of community resources. "This is the first new home for the
"All of theses houses here are meeting a housing void," he said, emphasizing that all of the houses DON is renovating or building will have two or three bedrooms and attached garages.
DON and its associate agency,
The house at
The house at
"I'm giving it away," Lloyd said of the two-story, white frame house. "There will be no mortgage, and that person is going to be a lot better off."
The house had been in the
Lloyd added that he formed the company called
"We had discussions on making (housing) improvements in
DON spearheaded a community cleanup in that area a year ago and it evolved into a community garden for the Lower
This year's cleanup involved 80 volunteers who filled five dumpsters, Hower noted.
The houses undergoing renovation were blighted two years ago, he said. DON also is working with local government agencies to get money to have the streets repaired in that neighborhood, he said.
DON started in
"We've been growing and growing and growing," he said.
Lloyd noted that 20 percent of the population will experience a disability during their lifetime, whether it is temporary or permanent.
"We're going to build these houses, grant or no grant," he said. "I'm not stopping."
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