Big Give helps Habitat for Humanity demolish home

TULAROSA – One Tularosa man is closer to getting his dream home thanks to a partnership between White Sands Habitat for Humanity and Holloman Air Force Base's Big Give Saturday.

"I'm so happy that all these people I've never met before are out here helping me," said Haskel Hall, homeowner. "It was bittersweet to see my home being demolished but also a blessing – it's overwhelming."

Hall's parents bought the home in the 1960s for a downpayment of $15. Hall's family had relocated from Northern New Mexico to Alamogordo so his older brother, who is blind, could go to the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

"We moved out to Tularosa from Alamogordo so my brother could ride his bicycle," Hall said.

Hall is a recent cancer survivor and works as a caregiver for individuals with special needs.

"I work with the special needs guys and (my home) got to where I couldn't have them over even though they begged and begged," he said. "I just didn't want them to be here if something did happen."

White Sands Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Kuia Taiaroa said the home was so dilapidated that Hall's kitchen was being held up by one post.

"When my construction supervisor and I walked into the home, we pretty much knew we were going to have to demolish it," Taiaroa said. "His entire kitchen was being held up by a post and his ceiling was covering the top of the post."

Hall's home fell under White Sands Habitat for Humanity's House by House Rehabilitation Program, where they help low income families get their homes up to code.

“One of the requirements for our program is you have to own your home and your property or be in the process of owning of them,” Taiaroa said. “We can go in and bring everything up to code but in some cases it’s impossible to bring the homes up to code. So for manufactured homes we remove them and replace them with newer ones. Site built homes, we really don’t have a choice and can’t demolish them normally.”

Taiaroa said she realized two years ago that the Big Give teams could help demolish site-built homes and replace them with a manufactured home. She said the only issue with this is that it can’t be accomplished within Alamogordo due to an ordinance that forbids putting a new manufactured home in city limits. Hall’s new manufactured home should be up sometime in September.

“Without the Big Give, we wouldn’t be able to demolish homes because we wouldn’t have the funds,” Taiaroa said. “With the Rehabilitation Program, it’s almost like a grant…and so we’re only allotted a certain amount of money to use and there’s no way we’d be able to fund a demolition. Just to demolish this size of a home, square footage is maybe 1,000 square feet, it costs anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000.”

She also wanted to thank Alamogordo Mayor Pro-Tem Al Hernandez who lent them a Bobcat loader for the demolition.

Tech. Sgt. Simon Carr, who oversaw this Big Give team, said about 10 Airmen were volunteering their time on Saturday morning.

"We're really thankful to be apart of this," Carr said. "Kuia brought us out to meet Haskel and we saw the condition of his home. This program (Habitat for Humanity) and the Big Give are amazing."

For more information on White Sands Habitat for Humanity call 437-6562.