Habitat for Humanity helps Iraqi vet and family with new start in Tarentum

Jonathan Butter is giving his four young sons the best Christmas gift he can imagine — room to play.

Butter, an Iraq war veteran from Pitcairn, will move with his family into a two-story home at 413 West 10th Ave. in Tarentum once Habitat for Humanity completes an extensive overhaul on the 110-year-old building.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” said Butter, 35, a Gateway High School alum. “They say it’s about us, but we couldn’t be more grateful for what they are doing here. To see how many people are working to help us, I’m overjoyed.”

Habit for Humanity Executive Director John Tamiggi said the home in Tarentum was donated to his group by an elderly couple.

“They wanted it to remain a home for another family,” Tamiggi said. “Everything needed to be redone, but it’s got good bones.”

The rebuild began in March. Volunteers turned out for five hours every Friday and Saturday to rip out old windows, paint walls, level the concrete porch, install laminate floors and redo the bathroom.

Tamiggi expects it will take about 500 hours to complete the work.

The white-sided house has about 1,200-square feet of living space with a long, fenced backyard.

The Butter family is a perfect fit for the outreach, Tamiggi said.

Stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, Butter served a 14-month tour in Mosul, where his job was to seek and destroy roadside bombs.

“He found 392 of them; 16 blew up on him,” Tamiggi said.

“We love his story and his dedication to our country. Doing this house was a slam dunk for us.”

Habitat for Humanity is a national nonprofit that seeks to build or renovate housing for people in need. The New Kensington-based office opened in 1997 and volunteers have built or overhauled two dozen homes for local families.

Most recently, the group built a home in Natrona for a single mom and her two children. The family moved in just before covid-19 shut down building operations.

Butter will sign a 10-year mortgage with zero interest once the keys are handed over.

Cost has not yet been finalized.

“It’s a hand up, not a hand out,” Tamiggi said. “They have to show up and help with the builds, which Jonathan does with a smile.”

Construction supervisor Chris Andring said the effort is driven by volunteers. The three-bedroom home “pretty much needed everything done.”

Andring isn’t shy about recommending necessary upgrades. He called for the front room of the house be demolished to make way for a porch. He’s doing the same in the back — the result will be a stone paver patio with a scenic view of the Tarentum Bridge.

Jim and Sue Bires of Lower Burrell — dubbed “volunteers extraordinaire” by the crew — show up every week to paint, clean and get their hands dirty with small-scale labor.

“Plumbing and electric are beyond me, but we can do all the little things that finish up a room,” Jim Bires said.

The couple have been volunteering 10 years for Habitat and said they appreciate the future homeowner’s role in the construction.

“It’s not given to them,” Sue Bires said. “They are here working with us and when we turn the keys over, the looks on their faces make it all worth it.”

Tamiggi said there have been times that Butter is speechless.

“He has four little kids and they are squeezed into a townhouse,” Tamiggi said. “He’s already imagining them having their own rooms and where the bunk beds are gonna go.”

Butter, a welder, chuckled when he said the new home will be much calmer.

“We just have no space now,” he said. “My wife is looking forward to having a big kitchen and the boys are so excited.

”This is a whole new start for us.”