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Fund raiser is home free photo by Steve Johnson Richard and Nancy Martin had plenty to smile about after bidding $71,000 for the home. They bought the house in concert with their daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Wes Norton. The two families plan to put the house on a cattle ranch they own in the Colestin Valley. By Sara Murphy In a matter of minutes, Richard Martin spent $21,000 more than he�d planned to shell out. He bought a house and helped build nearly 24 more. At $71,000, Martin was the high bidder in Sunday�s auction of a 672-square-foot house built in just 11 days by the Home Builders Association of Jackson County. Proceeds from the auction and a raffle, combined with $75,000 in Rotary club pledges, will help build 50 homes in post-hurricane Honduras. "I was only going to go to $50,000, then $65,000," said Martin, a former builder, who conferred throughout the bidding with his son-in-law and co-buyer, Wes Norton, who owns Rock-N-Ready Mix in Central Point. Martin and Norton had set their limits, but the spirit of the auction took hold. "I just couldn�t lose it for $1,000," Martin said. The one-bedroom Craftsman-style house, built in the parking lot of the Medford Armory prior to the weekend�s Home Show, is outfitted with hardwood floors, central heating, a gas fireplace, a kitchen loaded with major appliances and a Jacuzzi-brand toilet in the bathroom. "This house is built," said Randy Jones, who coordinated the project. More than 130 people donated supplies and labor to the project, which was completed four hours ahead of schedule and about three months faster than most homes. "And you can tell we did it right," Jones said. "There�s nothing wrong with it. It�s a perfect little house." Martin apparently thought so too. He bought the house with his wife, Nancy, and their daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Wes Norton. The two families plan to put the house on a cattle ranch they own together in the Colestin Valley, just north of the California border. As part of the deal, the builders will construct a foundation for the house at Martin�s ranch and transport the home there. They�ve even agreed to obtain the building permits to make it all legal. Jones said bids for the house came in right on target; he�d hoped the auction would raise between $60,000 and $75,000. "At $71,000, we�re just as thrilled as can be," he said. "And such a nice man it�s going to." In the six weeks since Jones pledged to build five houses for Hondurans who lost their homes to Hurricane Mitch in 1998, his fund-raising project spread like wildfire. "Before this is all over, we may get 50 homes for 50 families in Honduras," Jones said. He credits members of the Home Builders Association as the true heroes of the project. "When I was calling around to see who was in and who was out, about 97 percent were in," Jones said. "And they were giving their best stuff." Then the Rotary clubs jumped in, doubling the impact of the project. The 11 Southern Oregon clubs pledged $25,000, matched by another $25,000 at the district level and another $25,000 from Rotary International. "This is a huge deal because 25 additional families are going to get houses," Jones said. The families will own their houses and the land, which was purchased by John Duke, owner of the Superior Athletic clubs. Ray Shutte of World Vision, the international organization heading up the Honduras building effort, said the local fund-raising campaign will make a world of difference to the families in Hatillo and Trapiche. Hurricane Mitch left two million Honduran people homeless, many of whom still have no permanent shelter, Shutte said. "They just took old sheets of wood, whatever they could find," he said. "Sheet metal on the roof if they were lucky. "They�ve been living like that for two years." A decent Honduran home can be built for $3,000, Shutte said. The homes are simple: 500 square feet with two bedrooms, a stove out back and an outhouse. Jones said he was glad to help, but doesn�t know if the project can be repeated. "Sometimes these things just line up once," he said. "This is a special house. A lot of sweat went into it." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA