Ashland teacher works alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers to build her home [Video]

Ruth Reyes Cohen put her hands on the wall frame of her home under construction in Ashland almost to test if the latest Rogue Valley Habitat for Humanity project was real. It is. She and her four daughters should be settled in this year, maybe by Thanksgiving.

Standing under the structure’s open rafters Tuesday, she recalled the day she learned she would have a permanent place to live. Surrounded by her children, she was told by a local Habitat for Humanity worker: “You said everyone kept saying ‘no’ to you, but we’re saying ‘yes.’” She cried. “That was the moment when I realized, this is it,” she said, opening her arms wide in what will be her living room.