Tammy Marshall was struggling to pay her rent, supporting two kids and working three jobs seven days a week.
She thought about owning her own home, but as a divorced mom, it was an impossible dream.
“I never in a million years thought I could do it,” Marshall said. “I never looked into it.”
“I probably could have gone to Denver, but all my kids have ever known is up here. And I didn’t want to put them through any more pain.”
In her search for affordable housing, Marshall found Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity of Evergreen.
She attended an orientation in March 2009, went through the screening and filled out the paperwork.
Here comes the happy ending: By late spring Marshall will own her own three-bedroom, one-story, wood-frame home on 1 acre off Brook Forest Road at about 9,000 feet altitude. This will be the group’s first project in Clear Creek County.
Marshall is the beneficiary of the locally run home-ownership program, which helps low-income families buy into their homes with a combination of affordable loans and sweat equity.
“She came to a meeting and went through the normal family selection process. We did a home visit and financial review. She is a hard worker, a local community member, and is trying her best to raise her kids up here,” said Kathleen O’Leary, executive director of Blue Spruce Habitat.
A building professional usually supervises the construction work, which is largely done by volunteers. (Volunteers can sign up at www.bluesprucehabitat.org.) The house is valued at $110,000.
Each adult in a Habitat homeowner family puts 250 hours into the construction process.
Marshall and her friends have been to the location to clear the land and remove some trees. She also volunteers at Habitat events and at the ReStore. The house foundation is under way.
Marshall’s mortgage payment will be 25 percent of her income. The house payment will be cheaper than paying rent, said Marshall, who is thrilled at the prospect of a nice kitchen with a lot of cabinets and a dishwasher.
The kids are looking forward to being in 4-H and raising a couple of small animals.
“But the biggest thing is, I’m paying a mortgage. I’m making an investment in myself rather than somebody else,” she said.
Marshall grew up in Wheat Ridge and has been in the Evergreen area for about 17 years. Before her divorce, she lived on a ranch on Buffalo Park Road for nine years and helped manage the ranch.
She was stuck in a basement apartment for a couple of months but recently found a nice mobile home in Conifer in a beautiful spot.
Marshall works five days a week at Conifer High School and Saturdays and Sundays at a horse barn.
The financing for Marshall’s house is being provided by a program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture for rural counties.
Last year Thrivent Builds Homes donated $107,000 to build half of a duplex in Kittredge on South End Road.
The Marshall house is the 27th home in the Evergreen area built by Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit founded in 1990.
The group has built three other houses in Brook Forest, 11 houses in Kittredge, and the rest in the Wah Keeney area.
It also helped build 42 homes overseas, where costs are considerably cheaper, O’Leary said.
In January the group opened a home-improvement store containing donated material called ReStore, in Bergen Park.
The nonprofit 501(c)(3) raises money by holding fund-raisers such as Hard Hats and High Heels and Genesee Entertains, and obtains government grants.
In the year ended June 30, 2009, it raised $401,678 in contributions, gifts and grants, according to the IRS Form 990 available at www.guidestar.com.

Contact Vicky Gits at 303-350-1042 or Vicky@evergreenco.com.