Habitat For Humanity Gives Family Reason To Celebrate

LAND O' LAKES - Michael Campbell bounced around his new yard like a jumping bean.

If the 3-year-old wasn't racing up and down the driveway, he was pointing imaginary guns at bad guys or running around in the backyard, squealing happily as he went.

He might not have known why the group of adults was at his new home Saturday morning, but he didn't seem to mind their presence. Nor did his sisters, Alexis, 8, and twins, Samantha and April, who are 18 months old.

The crowd had gathered at Kevin and Beth Campbell's new home in Pasco Lake Estates to celebrate the third house built by Habitat for Humanity of Central Pasco County. The community is off U.S. 41, about 4 1/2 miles north of State Road 52.

The Campbells, who most recently lived with family in the Lake Carlton Arms community in northern Hillsborough County, closed on the house Nov. 30 and soon started moving in.

Kevin Campbell, a certified nursing assistant at Baldomero Lopez State Veterans' Nursing Home in Land O' Lakes, and Beth Campbell, a customer service manager at a nearby Wal-Mart, both said they were pleased with the four-bedroom, two bathroom house.

The house was dedicated to John Long, former Pasco County schools superintendent and state representative, who died in 2005.

As she stood outside the house Saturday morning, Sandy Ramos, an assistant schools superintendent, remembered her friend and former boss, a longtime Habitat for Humanity supporter.

"He was a genuinely good man who cared about people. He would have helped with this build," she said of the Campbells' new home. "His hands would have been nicked and scraped. He was a giver."

In other words, Long would have worked alongside the Campbells, who donated plenty of their own sweat and elbow grease to the project, as is required of people buying Habitat houses.

The house has beige siding and a spacious yard, surrounded by a chain-link fence and towering oak trees. Saturday, the home smelled brand-new. The beige carpeting was hardly touched by foot traffic, and the kitchen was practically spotless.

Alexis has a room of her own, its walls painted pink, as are the walls in the twins' room. Michael's blue walls are decorated with "Cars" stickers.

The next Habitat home in central Pasco could be built a few miles south of Pasco Lake Estates, where the organization built its first three homes. The Campbells' home cost about $75,000 to build, but the next one could cost about $90,000, thanks to rising construction costs.

Mark Shelton, president of the Central Pasco Habitat group, said helping a family move in to a first home is almost as fulfilling as raising children.

"We're here to lend a helping hand, but we don't give a handout," he said.