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With many hard working and caring volunteers and after many delays, one life-long Dripping Springs family will have a brand new home in the exact place they were living.
After months and months of planning, with volunteers and companies working together on timelines and needs, Orlando and Rachel Zapata are getting a new home this month. Dripping Springs Hometown Missions is coordinating this Home In A Month project of the removal and replacement of the Zapata’s 50-yearold manufactured home with a brand new one, purchased from Titan Factory Direct Homes with significant savings.
Removal of the manufactured home began last month at 1200 Creek Road in Dripping Springs with a blessing from Hometown Missions volunteers and the Zapata family.
Ed Perry, Hometown Missions board member, shared his sentiments on the project: “This kind of thing can only happen in a community like Dripping Springs where you have giving hearts and volunteers from every part of our town.”
“I first got involved through Hill Country Bible Church about 10 years ago. I come and try to help to improve the situations of our neighbors every chance I get,” said James Kuykendall, owner of Sunset Construction.
Long-time Dripping Springs residents, Orlando and Rachel share their home with their one grown daughter and three grandchildren; the only home that Rachel and the children have ever known their entire lives.
With failing electrical and septic systems, and years of weathering the extreme Texas elements, their home needed to be replaced in order to provide a safe and healthy environment for the next generation.
All events up to the point of the new 2023 manufactured home being delivered were handled by Sunset Construction, Titan Factory Direct Homes and Alamo Transport. These projects included removal of the old home, site preparation and a new septic system.
Volunteer crews will construct the front porch and back porch while other volunteer crews will build a small shed, build shelving for the cabinetry and conduct a yard cleanup and haul off of old debris. Once completed, the city of Dripping Springs will conduct inspections, and then volunteers can install the skirting.
The next step is furnishing. Hometown Missions has been accepting donations of gently used or new furniture into storage to be ready for move-in day.
The final event in the Home in a Month project is the dedication ceremony which is scheduled for the end of April or early May.
To get involved or learn more, visit hometownmissions. org. Contributions to the Zapata Housewarming can be made by purchasing items from the Amazon Wishlist at amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ ls/3P29R8MYGAP35.
Thanks to the support of the Dripping Springs community, Hometown Missions has been able to provide safe and healthy housing since 2010, and its Home in a Month program brings neighbors together to help neighbors, building community bonds that last well beyond the month-long project.
Patsy Ward, retired social worker and vice president of Hometown Missions, added, “We come together to help families with issues of instability, job training, citizenship and home repairs — really anything that is keeping them from a safe and healthy life.”
