POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. -- A house on Dogwood Road in Powhatan County, buzzing with the chatter of friends and neighbors, is not something Rachel Tomlin thought she'd ever have.
For the past few years, Tomlin, an office associate with the county's Department of Social Services and single mother of two, has been commuting from Tappahannock to Powhatan to work, about an 80-mile drive one-way.
“Housing in Powhatan is scarce, as a county employee, I can’t afford to live here," Tomlin said.
Tomlin says her story is not a rarity for other county employees who cannot afford to live in the place that they serve.
According to Habitat for Humanity Powhatan, the median average home price in the county is above $440,000.
"Right now, in Powhatan County, because land is so expensive, the need for affordable housing is tremendous," said Susan Winiecki, Habitat for Humanity Powhatan's Executive Director. "We are in desperate need of finding our next two lots to build on. Until we find those, we really can't take applications."
However, Tomlin's new home in the county is.
It was considered a "women's build," with a majority of the work done by women volunteering or offering construction services.
It's also the county's first Habitat for Humanity home that was done as a whole home renovation, meaning that the home was not built from scratch like many of the others.
And, without knowing it, Tomlin helped the past owner get help through Habitat about six years ago, through her work with Powhatan DSS.
"I fielded a call, the person that called, needed some resources for a gentleman who didn't have any resources. Basically, as she was explaining his situation, I was like, 'Oh, Habitat for Humanity,'" Tomlin explained.
Tomlin suggested using Habitat's home-repair program.
A few years later, she would come to learn that the gentleman she had helped had passed, and his home was to be sold to Habitat for Humanity.
It was around the same time she took it upon herself to apply for Habitat's home-ownership program.
In May, she found out she'd be the one to get the keys.
“If it wasn’t for her calling that day, and for me answering the phone and remembering, 'Hey, Habitat has this incredible program that can help anyone that needs some assistance with fixing a ramp or some steps, like all those types of things,’ I would not possibly be standing in my home. This was his home," Tomlin said.
Sunday's dedication ceremony at the home was a full circle moment for the social services worker who lent a hand to a stranger and got a home in return.
“Because of that call, I now have a home in the county where I work," Tomlin said. "And I don’t have to commute, I have peace. I have peace because of him."
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