Groundbreaking was celebrated Sunday for the first house that Eastern’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity will build.

The ceremony featured speakers from both the campus chapter and the Coles County chapter, a blessing and the groundbreaking.

“The weather has turned out beautiful, so I hope that’s a good sign that this house will be blessed,” said Cynthia Nichols, Coles County Habitat for Humanity board member.

During the invocation, the Rev. Derold Coughty, of the First Apostolic Church, said, “The last few weeks have proven we are together, and this is one of the things we are together on.”

This house will be the 12th house built by Habitat for Humanity in Coles County and will be located at 1108 N. 10th St. Theresa Wolfe, a lifelong Mattoon resident, and four of her seven children will occupy the home.

Wolfe said she was ecstatic when she found out she would be the homeowner.

“I was ecstatic, and the phone was busy all night long,” Wolfe said. “I was just thankful for God for blessing me and my children.”

This is the first time that the campus chapter has co-sponsored a house, a goal set in the 1997-98 school year.

The campus chapter reached this goal of raising more than $20,000 earlier in the year, said Holly Walters, Student Volunteer Center coordinator. She said the campus chapter signed a contract with the Coles County chapter last spring to build the house.

“First of all, we had to get Coles County to agree to co-sponsor, so once we did that, we wrote up a contract of what was expected of Coles County and the campus chapter,” Walters said. “Usually we gave the money away after the end of the year, but after (the agreement with Coles County), we started banking our money.”

To raise money for the home, the campus chapter held a spaghetti dinner, sold Christmas trees, had a table at St. Charles Church bazaar, raised pledges and worked other miscellaneous jobs, Walters said.

Walters hopes to have the house finished by February. Recognized Student Organizations, residence halls, faculty and staff will help on Saturday workdays to build the house.

“We are scheduling half-day workdays because of the response,” Walters said.

The shifts will be from 8-11:30 a.m. and from 12:30-4 p.m., Walters said. She said they are looking for churches, restaurants, or anyone else to provide meals for the workers.

For families to qualify for the homes, they have to be working, meet income requirements, have stable work, and agree to partner and perform the sweat equity hours. Eventual owners of the homes pay for it with low or no interest loans and by putting in 250 hours of “sweat equity” by helping to build, Walters said.

“I hope the people who participate in this project walk away with a better understanding about HFH. I want people to realize that while working on the house, Habitat’s not just a handout,” she said. “It’s about giving the homeowner some hope for their future.”

The next meeting for the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity is at 8 p.m. Oct. 8 in the Effingham Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.