VALLEY — Long-time EAMC-Lanier Hospital employee Loretta Brewer was all smiles on Friday. “I didn’t know anyone could build a house this fast,” she said, marveling at the pace of work on a new home going up on Huguley Road. “When I came by here this morning, there was nothing but a concrete slab.”

Brewer has worked in the hospital;’s dietary department for 25 years. She will be the new homeowner of Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project House No. 39, currently going up in the Rehobeth neighborhood, not far from W.F. Burns Middle School.

It’s the fourth new home built on the site of a former trailer park that was subject to many complaints from neighbors. These CFCP homes have, in effect, turned a negative into a positive.

Brewer, who presently lives in an apartment in Lanett, said that she applied to be a new CFCP homeowner but still thought that home ownership was something that would never happen for her.

When CFCP Executive Director Kim Roberts contacted her to tell her the good news that she’d been selected she was one happy woman. “All I could say was praise Jesus!” she said. “I’m so excited.”

Brewer has two grown sons, Corey Brewer, who lives in Opelika, and Cedric Brewer, who lives in South Carolina. They are very happy for their mom and plan to come and see the house before it’s finished.

Doug Dewberry’s work crew got a tremendous amount of work done on Friday and should be completed with the drying-in portion of construction on Saturday. On the third week in March, a team of volunteers from EAMC-Lanier Hospital will be on-site to finish it.

“Loretta will be in her new home by the end of March,” Roberts said.

“I never thought I would own by own home,” Brewer said. “This means so much to me, and I am so grateful to the Fuller Center for making this possible.”

The work on House No. 39 is the start of what will be a very busy year for the CFCP. On March 11, a group of 16 students from Cleveland State University in Ohio will be in West Point to help prepare for this year’s Block of Blessings.

West Point Mayor and CFCP volunteer Steve Tramell said that the students would be doing some minor carpentry work and pressure washing homes in preparation for the March 21st Block of Blessings. Several hundred Point University students will be doing the bulk of the work as part of their annual Impact Day.

While this is going on in West Point, the EAMC-Lanier crew will be back at work on House No. 39 on Huguley Road in Valley. “Volunteers from Refuge Point Church will be helping us that week,” Roberts said. “They will be providing meals. The Stuck family will be in town from Pennsylvania that week. They are wonderful people and great with construction. They have helped us in previous projects, and we appreciate them so much.”

In June, work will start on CFCP Home No. 40. It will be on 26th Avenue in Valley’s Red Dirt Hill neighborhood. This fall, CFCP Homes No. 41 and 42 will be going up in West Point.

“We couldn’t do this without the continued support of our community,” Roberts said. “The Valley is awesome. We are so blessed to live in a community with the kind of people who live in the Chattahoochee Valley.”

Roberts said that the ReUse Store on Gilmer Avenue in Lanett will be having its fourth anniversary in April. “Business is going great,” she said. “We continue to have great donations coming into us. We are so grateful for the way people support us and what we try to do for the betterment of the community.”