The Dedication of 1093 Panther Court: The White Family

One of the best parts of working with Habitat for Humanity is seeing a family enjoy their new home. It's great to see a little girl show off her new room. When Talia took me to show me her room she kept looking around like she was nervous. Then all of a sudden her brother, Damaris, jumps out of the closet. They were plotting to scare me! It was great to see them having fun in their new home.
This home was special to me because I was able to work on it from almost the ground up; I started working right after the piers were built. I learned many things while working on this house and worked with many different volunteer groups. We had groups from Publix, NC State University, Warren Wilson College, The Citadel, Homeland Security, SeaCoast Church, Holiday Inn, Wando High School, The Junior League, UNC-Pembroke, and others that are escaping me. Lots of people from many different backgrounds came together for the same goal.
The White Family moved into their new home shortly after New Years. What better way to begin a new year!

Bob, Executive Director, opens our ceremony

 Some of our volunteers join us for the Dedication

 Christine, Assistant Executive Director, gives the Litany of Dedication

The White Family

(Bottom Left: Teresa (Home Owner),  

Bottom Right: Damaris (Home Owner's Son),

Top Left: Talia (Home Owner's Daughter),

Top Right: Talia's Friend)

January 18-22, 2011

A lot has happened over the past week.
The Regulars are our core group of volunteers that come out week after week to help build houses. They are well seasoned and have taught me a TON. The Regulars finished building the piers on Tuesday that were started by the Junior League. Then on Friday, the Regulars filled the piers with concrete and got them ready for a floor to be built.
On Saturday, the Junior League returned to spread out the excess dirt around the piers and to begin working on floor system.

Here are some pictures that capture our week:

Richard and Dave working together to build a pier.

Desmon is piling on the mortar!

Pete and Bill

 All of the piers are complete thanks to our Regular Volunteers and the Junior League!

Micron is making sure the cement is nice and smooth.

Bill  

Bekka .

 Shelly doing what he does best :)

Richard

The Regulars finish filling the piers with concrete and the piers are now ready for a floor

Below are pictures of the Junior League moving dirt and beginning on the floor.

Great week everyone! Next week we will continue with this house and we will also have a ground breaking for the Net Zero Energy House!

January 15, 2011

On Saturday January 15th, the Junior League joined us to constuct the piers of our foundation. The Junior League of Charleston is a group of women from the Charleston area that come together to serve the community in various aspects, not just with Habitat. Sarah Schwartz, daughter of our executive director Bob Hervey, is the committee chair and leads the groups. This was the fourth time that the Junior League has helped us since I started in August. One thing that I have learned about the Junior Jeague is not only are these women wives, mothers, and successful businesswomen, but they are tough and can build a house! They have done everything from installing windows to putting up tyvek paper to spreading dirt to painting and cleanng, and now they have built piers.
Building a pier can be pretty tricky. I've concluded that it just takes a lot of practice. Getting the joints between blocks to be even is difficult. Then once you get the joints even, you realize its not high enough. So needless to say it can take a lot of re-work. But, the Junior League women were precise and did a great job. They were able to put up half of the piers in one morning of work!
Here is some of their work:

The Regulars will be joining us on Tuesday and Friday to finish off the piers!

On December 13th, the foundation of a new house was started by a group of students from Ohio State University. They spent the first week of their Christmas vacation working with us. How awesome is that?
Although digging a foundation isn't glamorous, it is very necessary. The foundation holds the weight of the entire house and the group did a great job.
Their group leader Jordan, did a nice job getting the group together. The students didn't know each other before the trip, but at the end they seemed to be great friends. They even performed a rap for us that told us about their week here in Mount Pleasant. It was great!
I also learned that Jordan had spent the summer working in Haiti building houses in Cite Solei with Haiti Outreach Ministries. This is the same group and place where I had worked last January. So, it was a small world moment for me.
Here are some pictures that show the progress that was made that week.

Currently building has stopped while Kate enjoys a much needed vacation, but should resume mid January. So look for more updates then!