Lee County vet gets help repairing home

LEESBURG — The yard was buzzing Saturday around the once and future “little white house” on a dirt road in Lee County. It’s where 65-year-old Vietnam veteran Jim Stettnisch has lived for more than 30 years, but as Stettnisch’s health has diminished, the 2-acre plot has overgrown, the dirt road has washed out, and the “white” house, which once had been a landmark, had dulled to gray.

But now, thanks to Flint River Habitat for Humanity, the Travis Manion Foundation and a flock of volunteers, Stettnisch’s home is bright once again.

Habitat’s “Brush With Kindness” program selects a deserving U.S. veteran in need of assistance to receive a revitalization of home and grounds. This time, it was Stettnisch who was the winner.

“This place used to be a Garden of Eden,” Stettnisch said. “But I’ve been crippled up a bit since 2009 and got retired from Lee County Health Care. All this brush and work just got ahead of me.”

Jennifer Vanston, executive director of Flint River Habitat for Humanity, said the organization works closely with the Travis Manion Foundation to locate qualified veterans in the Southwest Georgia area. While Habitat is more widely known for building homes for needy families and individuals, it also directs volunteer labor for no-cost revitalization projects like the one for Stettnish.

“This is the first we’ve done in Lee County,” Vanston said. “And to have this amazing support is just wonderful. The goal here is not only to help a vet in need, but to raise awareness of Habitat and the Travis Manion Foundation, a veteran’s advocacy group.”

Vanston said that before the day was out, some 35 to 40 volunteers from the city of Leesburg, the Leesburg Chamber of Commerce, Lee County High School and others would deliver their “labor of love,” pressure washing the home, painting, repairing Stettnisch’s dirt driveway and clearing underbrush.

“I didn’t know anything about it until the young lady from Habitat came around,” Stettnisch said. “She asked me, ‘What color do you want your house?’ I said, ‘What do you mean? I’ve always lived in the little white house — like Roosevelt.’”

Lee County Commissioner Greg Frich said the support-local-veterans concept really started with Steve Sutton, a Lee County resident who died in Afghanistan while in service to his country.

“The community has poured itself out to (Sutton) and his family,” Frich said. “We’re wanting to keep the meaning of his sacrifice alive in Lee County, even after Steve. We work to promote the character and attributes we see in veterans and try to build from an outstanding community to an even better one.”

Miranda Jemmerson, a senior at Lee County High School, said she volunteered because she wanted to give back for the service Stettnisch and other veterans have given to the country.

“I felt like I needed to give to the community, since I’m able to,” Jemmerson said. “They’ve done so much for us, it’s only right to do something for them.”

Sydney Frey, also a LCHS senior, agreed.

“Our war veterans give so much for our country,” he said. “I’m really glad I can be here today. It just makes my heart clinch.”

Stettnisch seemed almost mesmerized, watching his little home, which hadn’t seen paint since 1994, grow whiter by the second.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve all this,” the veteran said. “I said ‘thank-you,’ but it just doesn’t seem like that’s enough. With my white beard, the people I play cards with call me Santa Clause. I told them ‘Hey, this year Christmas came to me.’”