HELPING A HERO: Open house held for Habitat committee's first project

Aug. 14—An open house was held at Rodger Hanak's home in Columbus on Friday evening to celebrate some recently-completed home improvement work coordinated for him by Habitat for Humanity of Columbus.

Rodger, 68, is a U.S. Army veteran. He served from 1972 to 1975 in Darmstadt, Germany. He currently works part-time as a courier for DNA Genetics in Columbus. The work done on his home was part of the Habitat for Heroes veterans program.

"A year ago we started the veterans program and built a house for a young reservist," Columbus Habitat Executive Director Lori Peters said. "...And then we kind of reevaluated it and formed a committee. And the committee said there are so many older veterans in our community. So the whole point is to help them age in place."

Rodger's youngest child, Lynn Hanak, is a member of the committee. She joined as a way to help veterans and give back to the community.

Lynn had been to a couple of meetings when she began searching for someone to do handrails for Rodger's front steps.

"And I said, 'You're on the committee!'" Peters said. "'Isn't your dad a veteran?'"

Rodger had been working on some home improvement projects on his own before Habitat got involved, but he said he has been grateful for the support.

"I wasn't so sure, but it was good," Rodger said. "It started out and I knew that, yes, I needed to get behind this and get the word out for others."

Peters said work started in the spring and was initially focused on installing the handrails for Rodger's front steps.

"Once we started talking to Rodger he said, 'Well I've bought the siding for my house, it's in my garage,'" Peters said.

In the end, the work at Rodger's home has included the installation of new siding and gutters, a deck improvement project, some landscaping and, of course, the handrail for the front steps.

"We kept saying this was kind of our guinea pig project," Peters said. "Our application process for the veteran project is ongoing, and it doesn't always have to be this big."

For example, Peters said, Habitat could help with a bathroom remodel to improve accessibility.

"We'll talk about anything at this point and the committee will evaluate it," Peters said.

Although the program was designed with older veterans in mind, Peters said any active duty military and military families can also apply at any time.

People can email info@hfhcolumbusne.org for more information about the program, which includes a Habitat low-income loan program to help pay for the work.

Aside from the loan program, Peters said over half the cost and materials were donated for the work on Rodger's home.

"And we have a separate veteran initiative fund, and that is funded by BankFirst, the VFW and the Legion," Peters said.

Peters said Habitat will also be selling T-shirts for $25 and sweatshirts for $50 during Columbus Days to support the program.

Rodger thanked the people and businesses who have helped him and gave extra kudos to Peters.

"She took the initiative to get everything done and was the driving force to coordinate everything," Rodger said.

Peters said programs like Habitat for Heroes cannot happen without the backing of the community.

"As a community, we need to help each other. We need to love our neighbor," Peters said. "...We have to stand in the gap for each other."

Molly Hunter is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at molly.hunter@lee.net.

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