BILLINGS- — A Billings single mother of three raised the walls on her first house Thursday with the help of Habitat for Humanity and volunteers from First Interstate Bank.
“You can’t put this experience on anything else, you know what I mean? It’s pretty awesome, and to see 100 people show up for a wall raising is pretty cool,” said Kelsey Waller, the future homeowner.
Waller got into the Habitat for Humanity program roughly a year and a half ago and has been helping build houses for others. She is now finally helping to build her own house.
“We started this at the beginning of the pandemic and so there was all of this turmoil, like what are we going to do with our lives, how do we function,” said Waller.
Waller mentioned that right after she got into the program, building stopped because of the pandemic.
Those that get into the Habitat for Humanity program have to donate at least 350 hours to helping build homes. For Waller, who works full time in an office, it was a big change.
“They let me use multiple power tools. It's an experience I would want everyone to be able to have,” said Waller.
The home should be finished by mid-October, and Waller hopes her family can be moved in by Halloween.
“My 12-year-old daughter is a little interior designer. She’s got plans for the whole house… and my son wants to paint his room green, and that’s something we can do now that we own our own house, and we aren’t renting,” Waller said.
“We get to put down roots. My children get to go to the same school and live in the same home, you know. It’s amazing. It’s amazing,” said Waller.
