Saint-Gobain, Charis Homes project with Habitat helps area family buy home
PLAIN TWP. – A family that rented now are homeowners.
A builder who wanted to build sustainable and affordable houses now has achieved her dream.
And a corporation seeking a way to give back now has seen a new community program complete its first project.
The achievements were met Wednesday when the Habitat for Humanity East Central Ohio presented keys to Marjorie and Bradley Tyson for their new house on Martindale Road NE.
Built by locally-owned Charis Homes, the single-story house used 20 different building materials supplied by Saint-Gobain North America, based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
'Sustaining Futures'
The house is the initial project in a program launched by Saint-Gobain and called "Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities." The company, which employs more than 900 people at facilities across northern Ohio, wants to have a positive impact on communities where it has facilities and employees, said Mark Rayfield, chief executive officer for Saint-Gobain North America.
Saint-Gobain worked with Charis to get the house built, and with Habitat for Humanity to find a qualified buyer. During the ceremony Wednesday, the Tyson family made their first mortgage payment of a 30-year, zero-interest loan for the house.
Saint-Gobain hopes to build more houses through the program. The company also wants to help improve existing facilities, such as schools, health care centers and nursing homes, through its program, Rayfield said.
More: Part & Parcel: Meet Alexandra Dowell of Charis Homes
'Our prayers are answered.'
The Tyson family's new home "will be a model that repeats over and over again," said Beth Lechner, Habitat CEO and executive director.
The Tysons have two daughters, Cadence, 7, and Nora, 5, and have been renting since they married in 2012. The couple worked with Habitat after seeing friends buy a home through the program.
"Our prayers are answered. We are blessed," Bradley Tyson said. "This has changed the path of our family forever."
Both children said they are thankful for the new house.
"It's my home that I really love," Nora told the crowd attending the ceremony.
Glenna Wilson started Charis Homes in 2003. The company has received awards and certifications for building energy efficient houses.
"The good news, it's getting easier to build this way," Wilson said of projects to build affordable and efficient houses. The Saint-Gobain products are designed to work together to make buildings energy efficient and quieter.
Jean Angus, CEO for Life Sciences at Saint-Gobain, said the past success and awards won by Charis are reasons the company selected the builder for the project.
Saint-Gobain, Charis and Habitat built a partnership to make the project succeed, Angus said. "It took all three of us to bring it together."
The Tysons will help Saint-Gobain measure the project's success by studying products used in the house, as well as energy efficiency. The house is all electric with a tankless, gas water heater.
Monitoring wear-and-tear and tallying utility use will help Saint-Gobain measure its products, Rayfield said.
"We can learn how the home lives, how it breathes, how it ages," he said.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Saint-Gobain, Habitat help family buy home; Charis fulfills dream
