Instead of relaxing after work with his wife and 13-year-old daughter, Marvin Yasay drives to a dusty construction site on Mehana Road to invest long hours and much sweat into his family’s future. After more than two years of hard
Instead of relaxing after work with his wife and 13-year-old daughter, Marvin Yasay drives to a dusty construction site on Mehana Road to invest long hours and much sweat into his family’s future.
After more than two years of hard work and sacrificed weekend hunting trips, the lifelong Kaua‘i resident spent Saturday afternoon pulling weeds and applying finishing touches to his new house in ‘Ele‘ele.
On Thursday, Kaua‘i County Council members and Mayor Bryan Baptiste will join families at the developing subdivision for the blessing of six Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity homes — including the new three-bedroom house Yasay said he plans to one day give to his daughter, Keani.
Volunteers for the private nonprofit, affiliated with Habitat for Humanity International, have worked alongside Yasay since Day One, providing additional labor, supplies and advice.
Yasay pointed from the window inside his mother-in-law’s future bedroom to a crouched woman adjusting sprinklers behind the neighbor’s house-in-progress.
“She’s helped me all along the way,” he said, adding that Gwen Holi, a Habitat for Humanity supervisor, is a “very hard worker.”
Pushing a lawnmower next door, Brian Froehlich is a volunteer from Connecticut who returned for a second summer on Kaua‘i.
“It’s a good cause in paradise,” said the University of Hartford student.
Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity provided the chance to own a decent, affordable house that is close to work and hunting grounds, Yasay said.
Soon, he will be able to rejoin friends to hunt wild boar, goats and pheasants — part of their “living off the land” lifestyle.
The 44-year-old has worked at Gay & Robinson for 26 years, starting soon after he finished high school. He said he now earns just over $10 an hour.
“The price of homes now is ridiculous. I’d have to work two to three jobs to own one,” he said.
The average home price on Kaua‘i is $655,000, the Hawaii Information Service reported in July.
While living at the Kaumakani Camp on the Westside, Yasay said he saved money for “an opportunity like this.”
“People working stay young,” he added.
Yasay and his wife, Maria, are expecting a “new addition” in December. The rooms will be full, and Yasay said he plans to spend more time with his daughter and the baby.
“It’ll be a whole new world living here,” he said.
Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity has completed 89 homes for low-income residents around the island since its inception soon after Hurricane ‘Iniki devastated Kaua‘i in 1992, according to volunteerhawaii.org.
Eleven more houses are underway out of a planned 124-home subdivision on 24 acres of land, the Web site states. To be eligible, families have to agree to work “700 sweat equity hours,” Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Stephen Spears said. They are rewarded with zero percent interest on their house mortgage, he added. There are now more than 1,100 families waiting, Spears said.
For more information, visit www.habitat.org or call 335-0296.
