Page 4 - Bella - June 2015

Putting the hammer down ...
By Janice McIntyre City Editor
“I see life as both a gift and a responsibility. My responsibility is to use what God has given me to help His people in need.” – the late Millard Fuller, founder and former president of Habitat for Humanity.
And that’s exactly the way Sue Ellen Dillard, executive director of the El Dorado Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, feels about her job. Her desire is to provide decent, affordable housing so local residents can raise their children in a clean and safe
environment.
“We just have to try to make lives better for others,” Dillard said. “We want to provide decent, affordable housing in safe neighborhoods that are convenient to the downtown area and schools,” she said. “So many people have desperate need. Sometimes they simply cannot afford housing.”
In the near future, the El Dorado Chapter of Habitat for Humanity will begin work on their 41st local home.
The local chapter completes one or two homes a year – depending on donations and volunteers, she explained.
When Dillard first started working for Habitat, the local group had built 12 houses and then started on the 13th house on East Oak, shortly after she accepted the job as executive director. All of the homes, except for one in Norphlet, have been built in El Dorado. In Norphlet, the home on Seven Brothers Road “was a rehab house that had been in a fire so Habitat volunteers gutted the house and redid it,” she explained.
“We are very fortunate to have land off East Second in the Askew Addition. The Rob Reynolds family donated a large lot in the area and plans by Habitat are to revitalize the area between Joe’s Tire on Hillsboro and El Dorado Foundry. The Reynolds family owned the property since 1894, and in the early days of El Dorado, that area was a very prominent part of town – many local merchants built houses in that area,” she said.
Habitat has already constructed one home in that area and plans are to eventually build between 10 and 12 homes in the Askew Addition. Other homes recently built by Habitat are located on Block Street – two on the corner of East Block and Smith, one on East Main and two on Elm Street – she said.
Sue Ellen grew up in Malvern and was majoring in agri-business at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia when a friend set her up on a blind date with his best friend. One year after that first date – the rest, as they say is history – and Sue Ellen and Pat Dillard were married. On May 9 of this year, they celebrated 28 years of marriage. Pat grew up on a rice farm in Bradley and now works at Gordy Tool and Machine.
Five years after they married, the Dillards had a daughter, Samantha Dillard – now Culwell – who is 23, married and earned her forestry degree at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Their son, John Dillard Jr., is 17 and a student at El Dorado
4 – June 2015 – BELLA
Sue Ellen Dillard