THOUSAND OAKS : College Gives $13,000 to Help Build Home

The Ventura County chapter of Habitat for Humanity has received a $13,000 donation from Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks to help build a house for a needy family, officials said Tuesday.

About $10,000 will be used to help pay the $65,000 cost of building a home on Beall Street in Thousand Oaks, said Lynda Fulford, a Cal Lutheran spokeswoman. The remaining $3,000 is earmarked for other Habitat for Humanity projects in Ventura County, she said.

The Thousand Oaks City Council agreed earlier this month to deed the vacant Beall Street lot to the nonprofit group. It will be the first home built in the east county by the philanthropic group, said Bruce Wallick, who is leading the project.

Construction will not begin until Habitat officials have satisfied the concerns of some neighbors, Wallick said. Some Beall Street residents have complained to city officials that their neighborhood had no room for another house.

Habitat for Humanity prepared an Oak View home for a low-income family last year, Wallick said. A family of four must earn less than $27,600 to qualify for a Habitat home, officials said.

Cal Lutheran’s student-run chapter of Habitat for Humanity raised the money at a concert last fall, Fulford said. Students in the group help build houses abroad each spring, but this will be the first time they have assisted in constructing a home nearby, she said.