Six brightly painted “micro houses” now populate the first Micro-home Village in Nashville, thanks to a church community’s relentless leader.
The shelters are only 60 square feet, but they are warm, wired for electricity, and a big step up from the tents where these Tennessee homeless folks lived.
Reverend Jeff Carr moved into the first micro home and vowed to stay there until they raised $50,000 for the project. He was there for 45 days.
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The idea was born while Rev. Carr and one his college fraternity brothers were doing missionary work in Haiti. Dwayne Jones, who owns a construction company, was building houses and schools on the mission trips and wanted to be of service back home.
The money raised paid for the first six houses, and an electrical generator to power heating and cooling units, mini-fridges, and microwave ovens. They were set up August 21, on a lot owned by the Green Street Church of Christ, where homeless folks had been allowed to camp.
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During the dedication ceremony, Roger McGue, one of the homes’ new residents, literally jumped for joy at his new digs.
Pointing first at the tents in the field, he said, “People are living in them… and now they get to stay in those.”
Carr, who leads the Infinity Fellowship in Nashville, wants to build more of the micro houses in Nashville, and Jones has started a GoFundMe page to begin a similar project in Memphis. He’s hoping to raise $75,000 for even larger micro houses there.
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“Each unit will have energy efficient windows, laminate flooring, bed, mini fridge, microwave, range, toilet, kitchen sink, and access to electricity,” he wrote on the new crowdfunding page.
(WATCH the video below and READ more at The Tennessean) — Photo: Dwayne Jones, Facebook
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