19-05-2025
Former refugee becoming a homeowner with help from Blount County Habitat for Humanity
ALCOA, Tenn. (WATE) — A man in Alcoa is on his way to becoming a homeowner thanks to the Blount County Habitat for Humanity.
Mathiang Gutnyin has worked at Clayton Homes for more than a decade, and while volunteering for Habitat through the company, he learned he could apply for a Habitat home.
'This is the only way I can afford to purchase a home for my family,' he explained.
He is looking forward to having a home where his family can all live together. Habitat shared that he currently lives in a two-bedroom apartment with his oldest son while his wife and two younger children, who are US citizens, remain in Uganda until she can finish her visa paperwork to live in the United States.
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Gutnyin is one of the 'Lost Boys of Sudan,' a group of boys displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He fled in 1987 to escape the war and was naturalized as an American citizen in 2008.
'I'm feeling great today because this is very important. I will soon have a home. I am in a program for Habitat for Humanity, and knowing that in a few months I will be a homeowner is exciting,' said Gutnyin.
He is in a 10-month program through Habitat, where they are working to set him up for success once his home is complete. The program includes classes to prepare people for home ownership and volunteer work. Gutnyin told 6 News that volunteering is helping him prepare to fix things around his future home.
'It's amazing knowing that one of the things that we do here is you work on your home, and also at the same time, you work on another home for a different person. So knowing that you are also helping one of the homeowners that is going to come along, it's a great feeling,' said Gutnyin.
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Around 300 Clayton employees volunteered over 1,200 hours for Habitat in the neighborhood where Gutnyin's home will be built. His home is also one of the houses sponsored by Clayton Homes.
'So for them to be part of my life journey in my process, to own a home and partner with me to sponsor my home is a great feeling, and I'm grateful for that,' said Gutnyin.
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'To get the chance to volunteer and come out and really just that hands-on work, whether it's putting down some subfloor, putting up framing, or painting, and that's what gets really meaningful. And it starts to stick like, this is going to be somebody's house,' said Ted Rutland, social responsibility program manager for Clayton Homes.
Habitat builds homes for families who would not otherwise be able to afford to become homeowners. In Blount County, it costs over $190,000 to build one Habitat house.
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