When Mike Bredemeyer got the call from Habitat for Humanity last spring, notifying him that he’d won the lottery for the first home ever to be built by the organization in the Town of Southold, the Orient native was shocked.
A single guy, Bredemeyer, then 26, was living with his parents and had lost hope that would ever change.
“There’s no place affordable to rent, let alone buy. I thought I’d be living with my parents till I was like 50,” Bredemeyer said.
“I was stunned. I didn’t think I’d be the one,” he said. Five applicants had been deemed eligible for the lottery, passing income verification and the required credit checks.
It wasn’t the only good surprise he would receive that week. The next day, Bredemeyer, who had worked at Orient State Park since he started as a seasonal part-timer while still in high school, learned that the state civil service system had opened up a permanent full-time position in his job title.
“It really felt like I’d hit the jackpot,” the young man said this afternoon, standing inside the three-bedroom home on Greenway East, looking at the boxes of kitchen cabinets and laminate flooring piled high in the as yet-unfinished living room.
Earlier that week, Bredemeyer found an envelope with $1,600 cash in it and turned it in to the park manager. Someone claimed it. “I like to think my good fortune in the next couple of days was the result of doing the right thing in that situation,” he says with a smile.
Bredemeyer, a volunteer firefighter and five-year member of the Orient Fire Department, immediately signed up for home building skills classes required by Habitat for Humanity in order to gain the opportunity to build up the “sweat equity” mandated for participants. He was required to put in 300 hours of labor but has put in almost 1,000.
“From January up until now I’ve been there just about every day,” he said.
Habitat for Humanity will hold an $84,000 mortgage on the house, which they told Bredemeyer is valued at about $400,000. The ranch-style home sits on a half-acre lot, once occupied by a an older home — which had fallen into disrepair after the owners passed away — that was razed to make way for the new one. It has a full basement and a small garage.
Bredemeyer has endured comments by people who believe — wrongly — his father’s position as a Southold Town trustee had anything to do with his selection. The lottery wasn’t even administered by town government, but by Habitat for Humanity.
“There’s nothing I can do about what some people may say,” the young man said. “I try not to let it bother me.”
He’s been too busy to spend much time worrying about it. “It’s been a long process,” he said. “Not just the work on the house but all the paperwork. I probably killed four or five trees just in paperwork,” he said with a laugh.
Several local businesses got involved in the project, donating materials and labor to complete the home — from excavation to electrical work and the heating system, many local companies stepped in to help.
Southold Councilman Bob Ghosio got the company he works for involved. Ghosio said when he heard about the Habitat project, he asked Flanders Heating and Air Conditioning owner Doug Matz if the company would participate.
“It’s a good opportunity to give back to the community,” Ghosio said. “There really wasn’t even much discussion. He jumped on it. I took the ball from there.”
Ghosio said Anderson Sales donated all the materials to do the baseboard and piping, while North Fork Plumbing in Riverhead gave them the boiler and hot water heater at a deep discount. Flanders Heating and Air Conditioning donated the labor for the job. The two-day installation was scheduled to be completed today.
“I’m really grateful for all the support, from businesses and from the Habitat volunteers who come regularly to work on it,” Bredemeyer said. “To be able to have a house in Orient, where my grandma is around the corner and my parents are just up the road, that’s something I never thought I’d ever have. It’s like a dream come true.”
