BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DAYTON, Ky. -- For the next four days, volunteers will be racing the clock to help a single mother realize her dream of home ownership. More than 250 volunteers, under the auspices of Cincinnati Bell Wireless and Habitat for Humanity of Northern Kentucky, converged Thursday on a vacant lot near Dayton's riverfront to kick off Greater Cincinnati's first "Blitz Build."
The home's new owner, Lu Stewart-Fields, a former licensed practical nurse now living on disability income, says she's excited about the prospect of giving 3-year-old son Dakota Daniel "something for his future."
"For me, this new home represents stability and a sense of community," the 33-year-old Highland Heights woman said.
As the nation's first double transplant recipient to give birth, Ms. Stewart-Fields is used to overcoming adversity. She received a kidney and pancreas transplant in 1992 at University Hospital after those organs failed following a previous pregnancy. The infant died.
So for the divorced mother, the 500 hours of sweat equity that she's had to put in to qualify for Habitat's interest-free, 20-year mortgage have merely been "a creative challenge."
"People with Habitat are really positive, and I feel like that's affected me," she said.
Normally, Habitat for Humanity homes take six to nine months to build, said Vicky Nicolaci, president of Northern Kentucky Habitat for Humanity. However, Ms. Stewart-Field's home will be built in only five days.
Last May, Cincinnati Bell Wireless pledged to donate $2 for every new Wireless customer in 1998 -- up to 21,000 activations -- toward construction of a Habitat for Humanity house.
"Our original plan was to build a Habitat home next year, but we signed up (the required) customers in just 90 days," said Kathleen Riehle, the company's director of marketing communications. "When it was looking like we'd reach our goal so quickly, the Habitat people said that we could build another home this year, if we did a Blitz Build."
Ms. Nicolaci proposed the fast-track construction schedule, after working on Blitz Builds in Houston and Pikesville, Ky., with former President Carter and others.
During the day, two shifts of 25 to 30 volunteers work on a Blitz Build, doing everything from raising walls to erecting roof trusses and hanging drywall.
By night, subcontractors, such as plumbers and electricians, help with their part of the project. To help build, donate or become a partner family, call 397-6670.
