When is enough going to be enough

Helped out on a Habitat for Humanity project today. Instead of giving a hand building a house, I helped with a deconstruction project. One could argue these types of projects are what keep Habitat going.

Denver Metro Habitat has two home improvement warehouses where donated household and construction items are sold. Because of the success of these two stores, Habitat can say every dollar donated goes directly to a building project. The two outlets cover the organization's overhead and office costs.

I arrived at the house to be torn down and was shocked at what I was greeted by. A block east of Washington Park, this house was an incredible century-old house. It was renovated only five years ago and was not only in solid shape, it was beautiful.



The kitchen while the island and cabinets are taken out.



I don't know exactly what happened, but my guess the house was about to go through or went through foreclosure. We were guestimating while eating lunch that the lot itself would go for $500,000 because of the location. The developer, who lives three houses down, is going to completely tear it down and build a brand new house, which will probably be too big for the lot it will sit on.

It's a shame really. This not only is a beautiful house, but it was once somebody's home. I am reminded about the temporary nature of things whenever I go back to Chicago to my mother's neighborhood. My best friend PJ's old house he grew up in, across the alley from my mother's - gone. Nothing but a lot.

Still it made me a bit sad and wonder, what is the limit when enough is enough.