When their youngest daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma, the McAvoy family was living in the northernmost stretch of Mt. Pleasant, making their fartoo-frequent drive to chemotherapy sessions a real road trip. The family decided it was best to sell their home and move into a rental unit near downtown while they constructed a home closer to MUSC Children’s Hospital. This process placed a burden on their heart for other families traveling long distances to take their sick children to medical treatments; not only is the journey emotionally taxing, but it is also fnancially taxing. Matt and Amy began a nonproft organization known as The Journey House, which currently funds hotel stays close to MUSC for families who need the assistance. Their future plan is to build a home downtown to house these families.
Little did the McAvoys know that in the course of building their own home, they would form a connection with building company America’s Home Place, managed locally by Shannon and Nelda Dwinnell. Amy and Matt reached out to them to start construction on their personal residence in southern Mt. Pleasant. To begin, Shannon and Nelda helped the McAvoys choose a lot and a set of plans. Then, the team tweaked those plans to ft the homeowners’ needs. Amy explains, “We have three daughters, and they all wanted to share a room—believe it or not! So, we made their room really large. They each have their own bed and their own little areas. Then, they have their own bathroom in their room with three diferent sinks. We expanded the original room to make it more like a suite.” Shannon echoes, “The floor plan was generous to begin with, but we took advantage of a bit of the extra space on the second floor. That gave us a game room and bigger bedrooms. Then downstairs, this plan already had a keeping room [an extra room between the kitchen and dining room] but we stretched the plan a little bit to get a much larger kitchen and keeping room.”
Because America’s Home Place is a national company with a local connection, they are able to construct semi-custom homes out of materials ordered in bulk, ofering the end consumer a reduced price. They work with local companies to provide top-notch materials. For this home in specifc, the building materials were purchased from Builder’s First Source; the cabinets from Jilco Kitchen and Bath; the countertops from Palmetto Surfacing; the lighting, plumbing fxtures, and appliances from Ferguson Enterprises; and the paint from Sherwin-Williams. With the help of so many other professionals, America’s Home Place is able to build many of their homes in a mere six months (a perk that saved the McAvoys countless dollars in rental expenses). In the end, the new home plans were fawlessly tailored to the large family’s needs.
Once Nelda and Shannon heard the McAvoy’s story, they knew they wanted to help with The Journey House project. Shannon recollects, “I went to our owner, and I told him a little bit about what The Journey House was all about. Right away, without any hesitation, he said this is something we want to be involved in. I think our prayer is that somewhere, someone downtown has a piece of property that is just right. Sooner or later, they are going to hear about the project, and the property’s going to be there.” Both the McAvoys and the team at America's Home Place are hopeful to begin the project soon and to serve the families of those children receiving treatment at MUSC. In the process of constructing their own home, the McAvoys became one step closer to opening The Journey House.