Four Tulsa families expected to celebrate Thanksgiving in brand new homes, thanks to Habitat for Humanity. Then thieves broke in and ransacked each house, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Green Country Habitat for Humanity CEO Cameron Walker says appliances, cabinets, kitchen islands, bathroom vanities, plumbing fixtures and more were stripped from the homes near East 30th Street North and North Lewis Avenue earlier this week. In one home, water lines were cut and the house flooded — ruining the floors.
“In our minds, this was a fairly organized, large group of individuals that came in, and it must have taken multiple vehicles, because they completely stripped these houses,” Walker said.
Two of the homes were set to receive their certificate of occupancy within a week.
Walker says all home builders, no matter how big or small, deal with some minor theft, but he has never experienced anything like this.
“It’s a real setback financially for us, but the bigger thing is we have four families that were set to close, and we were kind of targeting this home for the holidays,” Walker said.
Thankfully, he says, contractors have committed to redoing the work at no cost. Green Country Habitat For Humanity is now “very hopeful” to get these families into their homes by Christmas, he added.
“We have to rebuy material, appliances, paint, sheetrock, all of that, but their labor, they’re going to donate back to us,” Walker said. “That kind of speaks to the people we’re working with and the impact they feel like they’re having.”
Walker says folks can help by donating to Green Country Habitat for Humanity online.
“All of those funds will be directed to helping these four families recover and get them closed and in their homes,” he said.
Tulsa police are investigating the vandalism. Walker says this kind of crime is “atypical,” and while it’s a setback, the mission continues — to build homes, communities and hope.
“We’re going to keep going, and hopefully over the next few years, we’ll add many, many more homes and families to that neighborhood,” Walker said.
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