UPDATE @ 6:49 p.m.: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Dayton started a project Friday -- to build a home for a woman who lost hers in the Memorial Day tornadoes.
>> RELATED: Trotwood apartments complex condemned after vicious EF4 tornado
Erica Bohannon and her son took refuge in a closet of their Westbrooke Village apartment the night the tornado hit Trotwood. All they were able to recover were their clothes.
Friday, Habitat’s Executive Director Norm Miozzi held a dedication ceremony Friday where Bohannon’s new home will stand.
“I’m very, very thrilled. Like I stated earlier, I’m a first-time homeowner, so that’s a huge deal,” said Bohannon, who applied for and was accepted into Habitat’s program five years ago.
In an odd twist, she had received a call the week before the tornadoes that the foundation was to be laid.
She called Miozzi two days after the tornado outbreak to tell him she had lost everything.
Habitat for Humanity looks to bring housing opportunities to families that make 30 to 60 percent of the area’s medium income.
Those who received homes pay no more than 30 percent of their annual income, which is considered an affordable amount, according to Miozzi.
Miozzi said the new home for Bohannon should be built within the next four months.
And that’s OK for Bohannon, the 2016 Central State University grad and 2016 Ohio student teacher of the year. She’ll be the first in her family to own a home, where the education specialist will be able to continue working toward her master’s from the University of Dayton.
“Even through something so tragic and super-duper scary, beautiful things like this can happen,” Bohannon said of her new home. “It just takes a little bit of time, a lot of faith and a lot of endurance and strength.”
