New London ― Lisa Dodson is in a meeting at Habitat for Humanity to discuss final details of her mortgage application for a home she intends to buy in Willimantic when her cellphone rings and she excuses herself to take the call.

She apologizes profusely and explains that it is her employer, Stop & Shop, and they need her to help sort things out after another employee has quit. She holds the phone away and whispers that she is hoping with the opening that she will get promoted.

Dodson has worked at Stop & Shop for 11 years, most recently at the Old Saybrook store, and the promotion to head of online pickup will mean more day shifts, something the mother of four really wants.

“I have been passed over before and I’m not sure why,” she said. “My attendance is perfect and they already think of me as a leader. If they pick me this time, I will get all day shifts and be home with my kids at night and feed them dinner all the time.”

Tara Filip, the homeowner services manager at Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut, has been working with Dodson for 13 months, ever since she submitted a pre-qualification application to the nonprofit.

“Financially, she was a great candidate because she has a stable job, a decent income, and we look for stability,” said Filip, who explained the local chapter of Habitat celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2022 and dedicated its 100th home last May. This year, the nonprofit is working on its 107th house in eastern Connecticut, and Dodson, who did get the promotion, will be one of its new homeowners.

“Lisa has been a great partner. She’s been really responsible and responsive. She has dug into the program,” said Filip, explaining that Dodson communicates well and replies to messages promptly.

“It’s important that people who qualify, like Lisa, are willing to partner and participate in the program. The end game is closing on the mortgage and owning your own home, but the in-between here and there is that they want to participate in the program.

For Dodson, a mother of four, Habitat requires 250 “sweat equity” hours. That includes 100 hours of construction at Habitat projects completed by her, as well as 50 hours of workshops, training modules, and meetings, and an additional 100 hours of sweat equity contributed by friends and family.

Dodson has worked at Habitat’s ReStore and spackled, painted, cleaned, and swept at the Willimantic home she intends to buy, as well as at Habitat properties in Norwich. She has a coupon book, and the job foreman signs it for her. Recently, she was closing the gap on the required hours, Filip said, with just 80 of the 250 left, including three classes, one on predatory lending, another on wills and life insurance, and a third on homeowner’s insurance.

“The paperwork, classes, meetings, and hours, they are hard for me because I only have one day off a week and my daughter has all these appointments,” she said. “But I’m getting it done and I would recommend this to anyone. It’s a lot of hard work but it is so worth it.”

Her younger children are not allowed on the job sites, but the older ones can earn “family hours” for babysitting while Lisa is working for Habitat. The children can also get hours credited for earning As and Bs in school ― three hours for every “A” and two hours for every “B” grade.

Habitat’s vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Part of the decision to move along Dodson’s Habitat application followed an inspection of her New London apartment.

The place is decrepit. There is another tenant on the first floor and Dodson and her children live on the second and third floors of a circa-1900 Shaw Street home. There are three steps up from the curb, a dozen more to her front door, and then 12 more to get to her apartment.

Inside, there is water damage, missing linoleum and doorknobs, threadbare carpet, and issues with backed up sinks and pipes. Drywall has been hammered over cracks in ceilings. Dodson said she got a cat to keep the mice away.

She likes her landlord but said he is slow to make repairs and when he does, he does the work himself, never hiring a tradesman. She has told him she is buying a home with help from Habitat and she said he is supportive.

The local Habitat started as Habitat of Southeastern Connecticut in 1987 and broke ground on its first project in 1988 on Truman Street in New London. Later, it merged with the Northeastern and Windham area affiliates and became Habitat of Eastern Connecticut.

Most of its properties, including land and buildings, are donated, and some are new builds and some remodels or renovations. Over the decades, it estimates that more than 10,000 volunteers have stepped up to help its more than 100 homeowners.

That includes people like Bill Briggs in Willimantic, a retired contractor from Mansfield who has volunteered with Habitat for 25 years. He is 76 years old and designed and built – with volunteer help – the home Lisa Dodson is planning to buy. It’s the fourteenth house Briggs has built for Habitat and he’s ready to put down his hammer.

“This is my swan song. It’s probably my last one,” he said, explaining he has worked as a contractor since 1976.

“That’s before I was born,” said Dodson.

Briggs said he got started with Habitat because he supports its mission, enjoys the work, and finds the camaraderie of fellow volunteers satisfying.

There are twin properties on the Willimantic site, land that was donated to Habitat, and soon two families will be living there.

“It’s good, basic housing,” said Briggs. “If this was my own house, I wouldn’t do it any differently. Well, maybe I would build the cabinets myself but they wouldn’t be any better than these.”

Dodson picked out her laminate countertops and the knobs for her cabinets. Initially she selected black appliances, but on advice from others, switched to white when she learned they are easier to keep clean.

In the new house, she can drive right up to her door and carry in groceries, not have to navigate two steep flights of stairs like she does now in New London. She will also have a dishwasher, something she doesn’t have now.

“I’m excited about everything. I am excited about all the cabinets and the storage,” she said. “My house is cluttered now, there is no room to put anything.”

She wants to get new or gently used furniture when she moves, and will look at the Habitat ReStore and maybe make a wish list at Wal-Mart.

The support provided by Habitat, the guidance, the classes, the requirements, have all helped her, she said.

“I am going to be a smarter homeowner,” said Dodson. “There was an eight-hour home ownership class. And I still have one left on wills. They even got me saving money. I never did that but I’m saving money now. Even if it is just $15 a week, in a year it adds up.”