By Scott Harper

sharper@gtowntimes.com

Devante Jackson was one of several Carvers Bay High School students who have spent the past 10 months building a home for someone in need.

What he did not know while the construction of the elderly transportable unit - ET - was taking place was that it would be given to his grandmother, 77-year-old Edlene Williams of the Browns Ferry area.

Jackson said he found out two weeks ago the ET he helped build would be used to replace his grandmother's Frank Williams Road house which in such bad shape part of the roof is severely damaged and the walls are coming apart.

At a ceremony last week, Jackson escorted his grandmother to her new home which was still on the Carvers Bay High property, where it was constructed by the students in Terry Cox's carpentry class.

The work, which began in January, was a project of the United Methodist Relief Center (UMRC), Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments and Horry-Georgetown Technical College.

The ET will be used by Williams for the rest of her life and will then be given to another elderly person in need.

Williams said when she got the call last week that she will receive the ET, she was speechless because she had been praying for a long time for a better place to live.

A couple who knows Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Doug Poston, knew about her house problems and were the ones who got the ball rolling for her to get the home.

"The Lord sent them to me at the right time," Williams said. "No one would help me until the Postons came into the picture."

Dan Nesbitt of the UMRC said Williams current house will be demolished to make room for the ET. He said the project should take less than two months.

Big Project

Cox, during the ceremony, said building the home was one of the biggest projects ever at Carvers Bay High.

Cox said 13 students worked on the house, mainly after school, and many of them continued to work during their summer break.

The goal of the project was to not only help Williams but to also teach job skills to the students.

Not only did they learn to build but were also taught other fundamentals such as building codes and obtaining permits.

The students were being paid $8 an hour through a Workforce Investment Act grant.

They also received a pre-apprenticeship certificate from HGTC, which helps them get a job after high school.