County Fair Royalty Serve Habitat for Humanity Volunteers in Alice

Jim Wells County Fair royalty stepped into a supporting role Thursday at the Jim Wells County Fairgrounds in Alice, serving and assisting a group of traveling volunteers known as Care-A-Vanners who are building a home for local resident Victoria Gonzalez on 4th Street.

The caravan stop brought together two distinct corners of Alice civic life: the county's fair royalty and a national network of RV-based volunteers who move from Habitat for Humanity build to build across the country. Construction Supervisor Roger Harvey described how the program works.

"A Care-A-Vanner is a person that has a motorhome or a trailer, maybe a fifth wheel and they can more or less go to the website and look up and see a habitat build," Harvey said. "And if they have those accommodations you can sign up for a build. They go to that location when they are supposed to and get with a team leader and they build a house."

For Care-A-Vanner Tom Wilcox, Alice has become a regular destination. "This is the seventh year in a row that we've been here. We love the people, the people of Alice are wonderful people," he said.

The 4th Street house has been going up quickly, a pace that reflects what Sandra Bowen, a member of the Jim Wells County Habitat for Humanity board, says volunteer labor has made possible year after year. Without the volunteers, Bowen said, it would be tough to complete a house each year for the past 20 years.

An Alice bookkeeper whose family is among those who have benefited from the program told 3NEWS the impact is deeply felt. "For them to be able to do this yearly for people like myself, to help families, it's a blessing," she said.

To help cover the costs of building homes like Gonzalez's, Jim Wells County Habitat for Humanity scheduled a fundraiser from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Merchants Building at the Jim Wells County Fairgrounds.