By Kevin Hogencamp, Contributing Writer
Some people call it “paying it forward.”
Carolyn Edwards calls it “the gift of giving.”
It’s what Caitlin Magliochetti, who once lived in a storage shed with her husband and young children, does for Clay County Habitat for Humanity.
After meeting the organization’s homeowner requirements last year, Magliochetti and her husband, Hector, moved into a newly built five-bedroom Middleburg home with their children.
The family’s contributions to the homebuilding project included 500 hours of “sweat equity.”
“When I told them, ‘Your home is complete and it’s time for you guys to move in,’ the husband just wept with joy,” said Edwards, the local Habitat affiliate’s executive director.
She was the guest speaker at the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Clay Builders Council meeting in May.
“He was overcome because he knew his family was finally going to have a decently place to live,” Edwards said.
Caitlin Magliochetti gave birth to her fifth child, Avalina, the next morning.
Now, when there’s a home being built, a fundraiser or other Habitat activity in her community, she is there to pitch in, children in tow. The couple also serves on a Habitat support committee, assisting families as they prepare to become homeowners.
In May, Caitlin Magliochetti was among the honorees at the annual Paul E. & Klare N. Reinhold Foundation community service awards banquet.
“Caitlin’s story of paying it forward is what Habitat is all about,” Edwards said. “She is a prime example of how Habitat for Humanity is a program that provides a hand up, not a hand out.”
The Magliochettis were among the volunteers who helped reconstruct the Orange Park residence of Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart medal recipient Joseph Gainer.
The home was dedicated Sept. 11, 2014.
About 150 low-income families have moved into new homes since Clay County Habitat for Humanity was founded as Greater Penny Partners in 1977.
Since 2012, Habitat has constructed or rehabilitated 26 Clay County homes.
Clay Habitat homeowner applicants are required to have an annual family income of at least $20,400. They also must have lived or worked in the county for at least a year.
The Habitat homeowners make a down payment and must pay a monthly mortgage.
“Contrary to what people might think, we are not a government-subsidized program and we don’t give houses away,” Edwards said. “We help provide housing for those who would not traditionally be able to become a homeowner.”
Habitat-constructed homes are generating about $100,000 a year in Clay County property taxes, Edwards said.
“That means that people who formerly were a drain or a problem in this community now have become taxpayers who are helping make this a much, much better community,” she said.
Edwards said while some Clay Builders Council members already support Clay County Habitat, additional help is needed.
Among other opportunities, the nonprofit is seeking volunteers to help with construction projects, work at the Habitat ReStore on Blanding Boulevard and serve on committees and the board of directors.
“You don’t have to come out and pound nails,” Edwards told the group. “You can make lunches for us. Whatever you’d like to do.”
Mary Jury, the Clay Habitat affiliate’s resource development director, told the group that Habitat volunteers strengthen the community by changing lives.
“And no matter who we are or where we come from, we all deserve to have a decent life,” she said. “We deserve to know that we have the power to take care of ourselves and our families, and build our own futures.”