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UMMC volunteers help Habitat for Humanity turn vacant lots intoneighborhoods

Mary McDaniels wanted to own a home, but at 23, figured she wouldn’t have a shot for years to come.

But on a hot afternoon in early July, she couldn’t stop smiling as she received guests and toured them through her three-bedroom house.

For that early realized dream, she thanks Habitat for Humanity/Metro Jackson and dozens of volunteers from the University of Mississippi Medical Center student body, administration, University Physicians and BancorpSouth.

“I just thought home ownership would be a lot longer off,” she said during a ceremony to dedicate the Georgetown neighborhood house.

Just more than a year ago she learned about the program through a friend who was already a Habitat homeowner.

“I was living in an apartment . . . and paying about what the payments on a Habitat house would be,” she said.

Completion of her home, at

It brings to an even dozen the number of homes the Medical Center community helped build. It represents the inaugural Habitat house for University Physicians, the medical school’s faculty group practice. And it’s the first Habitat pairing of UMMC and BancorpSouth.

Finally, it leaves just one house to finish before the 18-house, Habitat-created subdivision off

“This is one of our most outrageous and adventurous projects yet,” Jacqueline Brown, president of the Metro Jackson Habitat board, said during the dedication. “It’s great to turn a vacant lot into a taxpaying neighborhood.”

Deserved or not, the 10-block stretch surrounding the Georgetown neighborhood’s Wood Street had earned a notorious reputation that would repel young families and working professionals. But beneath Georgetown’s immediate decay lies an active neighborhood full of promise.

That’s seen in the children playing in the neighborhood’s Jaycee Park, the bustling churches on nearby

Dr. Scott Stringer, UP president, thanked the student body at UMMC for fund-raising and lending strong backs. Stringer has said that UP wants to be visible community partners. Volunteering with Habitat is another avenue, in addition to health-care services, that it can give back to the community.

McDaniels’ house cost about $57,000, of which UMMC students raised $7,000. UP donated $21,000 and BancorpSouth gave $28,000.

Habitat homeowners are required to have jobs, repay the zero-percent interest mortgage and put in anywhere from 250-500 hours of work – sweat equity – on their houses.

“The Medical Center has always helped raise money, but it’s the first time partnering with University Physicians,” said Dr. Jerry Clark, associate dean for student affairs in the School of Medicine. “Dr. Stringer took the lead with it and here we are today.”

“BancorpSouth worked hard and they were really great partners . . . they got a bunch of volunteers to come out and help build.”

Pleasant Avenueand especially with a turn down freshly paved Erie Cove. There, Habitat’s new subdivision presents a whole new chapter in the neighborhood’s life.

Wood Streetis complete. While Habitat counts more than 400 metro-Jackson homes to its credit since 1986, McDaniels’ house is a part of the organization’s first dedicated subdivision.

160 Erie Court, marks several significant milestones for all parties involved. For McDaniels, it means a well-built and affordable house in which to raise her 1-year-old daughter, Damaria.

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