HIGH POINT — Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) parishioners in High Point raised over $40,000 and keep pounding away in an effort to house homeless veterans in a local tiny home veteran only community.
The steady hammering of nails and hum of the bandsaw created by IHM Habitat for Humanity volunteers are soothing to Scott Jones, founder of Tiny House Development, Inc. They mark growth in the eight-house, tiny-home veteran community and in the lives of the veterans and volunteers who are constructing them.
“It takes a lot longer for us to build, but being out here with the volunteers, listening to them interact, and feeling that emotion, it is just something that is hard to describe,” said Jones. “It’s not ours. The community is the one that has put this here, not Tiny House.”
This development will be Jones' third build in the past 10 years in the Triad and the first dedicated solely to homeless veterans. Each neighborhood houses homeless Guilford County residents -– a number that is on the rise, growing from 452 in 2023 to 641 in 2024. Among them are military veterans.
“There are around 80 veterans who are homeless in this area, mostly single, but there are plenty of families in need too,” Jones said. “There’s a known pool out there in halfway houses and shelters. I’ll be reaching out to them once the paint goes on these walls.”
One of these two-bedroom homes intended for veteran families will soon bear the nameplate Immaculate Heart of Mary House due to the efforts of the IHM Military, Veterans, and Families Outreach ministry.
A year ago, when parishioners Bob Valliere and Russ Ditzel heard about Jones’ latest project, a veteran-only community in the heart of High Point on Smith Street, they were all in, and soon enough, so was the entire congregation.
“We knew through this project that we could directly take one homeless veteran off the street and put them in a home,” said Valliere, who is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
Last Veteran’s Day weekend, Valliere, with the support of Father Patrick O’Connor, the pastor of IHM, and the backing of the ministry, led a presentation after all Masses, expressing the ambitious goal of raising $20,000 for a one-bedroom tiny home to house one veteran.
By Epiphany, they had far surpassed their goal, Ditzel said. “Then we got a very generous donation from a retired Air Force colonel for $10,000.”
The funds were enough to sponsor a 687-square-foot two-bedroom home for a veteran family that will move in when construction is complete.
“I thank the Lord for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church coming to help us,” Jones said. “It's not just the money but the number of volunteers coming out and stepping up.”
Phase one of the community of six homes is nearly complete. Each home will be painted with military shades commemorating the six branches of service. The finishing touch will be an Eagle Scout project of installing six flagpoles, proudly displaying the colors of each branch.
A veteran resource center, a renovated 1927 home that came with the donated plot, will be a catalyst of transformation, helping veterans discover the root cause of their homelessness, offering counseling, and teaching ways to regain stability in a world that sometimes doesn’t make sense.
The IHM Habitat for Humanity group spends some weekends constructing alongside Jones’ crew of former homeless residents who received carpentry training through the Tiny House Education program.
IHM is the only church or organization thus far to sponsor within the community. But Valliere and Ditzel remain hopeful that others will get involved in the next leg of the project, two additional houses that will operate much like a nursing home.
“Jesus commands that you feed the hungry and you shelter the homeless. We hear the preachers talk about it on Sunday,” Valliere said. “We read about it, we hope for it, and finally we have a chance to do something about it. It’s Jesus that drives me with this. It’s my faith. It’s my religion.”
How to help:
Every Tuesday, IHM volunteers travel to Greensboro, never forgetting extra groceries from their church food donations to distribute. There they spend the morning cooking blueberry pancakes enough for 30 to 50 guests. These guests come from halfway houses and homeless shelters to the Tiny House Office building, which doubles as a Hope Center open six days a week to provide visitors a clean and safe place to come in for respite.
For more information https://www.tinyhousesgreensboro.com/
— Lisa M. Geraci
