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2013 Day 4 Summary

Big. Diverse. Day

Women’s Build
As mentioned before, Pam and Millie would be attending today’s part of the Women’s Build. Sending them off to get a ride with Denise was a bit like sending out our kids to their first day of school. We prayed for them and sent them out.

Turns out they helped in some pseudo-leadership roles, taking their skills that they had learned from the other team members over the years.

Interestingly, Millie was interviewed by the local news station and spoke of her faith

They had a great time and enjoyed getting to know their fellow workers, and they represented our team on the house we’ve been working on this week.

Miss Peggy and Miss Rhonda
The remainder of the team was split over two sites, Miss Peggy’s and Miss Rhonda’s

Miss Rhonda lives by herself in her childhood home. Her parents passed away close together and now she is trying to get her house in better shape. She is already energy conscious but with this weatherization program, she will be benefiting immediately from technology that will reduce her utility bill. We found out that she loves cats and turtles. Yes, she connected with Steve and Shirley, our resident turtle owners. Miss Rhonda’s going to be volunteering tomorrow at the women’s group

The rest of the team stayed at Miss Peggy’s, the home we worked on yesterday. We continued working in the attic and doing other weatherizing improvements. For the second day in a row, we were treated to a scrumptious meal. She cooked us Catfish, Spaghetti, Ribs and Chicken as well as a dessert.  We also gifted her with an attic ladder to replace the broken one we had been using.

We ended the evening with a time of sharing and worship. It was a great day. We commented that although it is fun and exciting to work on building a new home, the intimacy we feel while working on occupied home-rehabs far outweighs our initial trepidation.

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2013 Day 4 – Women’s Build. Millie’s on the NEWS!

News Story from Millie on News!

PASCAGOULA, MS (WLOX) –

Starting Friday, more than 10,000 women across the country will lift up hammers and drills and help build houses for Habitat for Humanity. It’s part of the seventh annual Women’s Build Week, sponsored by Habitat and Lowe’s.
One jobsite is located in Pascagoula. Lowe’s employees were part of Friday’s mission.
“For me, I like to help any way I can,” employee Monique Stewart said. “And for a company to put up so much effort to help the community that’s in need, to me that’s a big thing.”
Several volunteers from Keesler were here to lend a helping hand, including Major Sandy McDonald.  
“As active duty Air Force members, we always try and participate in community activities and so we decided to come out and spend a little time with Habitat for Humanity,” McDonald explained.
The women are also making a spiritual connection on this day.  Millie Liao is from the Evergreen Church of California.   
“Evergreen’s been sending teams each year just to love on the people here, to show people the Lord’s love for them, and to bless the people who come in and inhabit these houses,” Liao said. “It really provides a home for them, you know, it’s more than a building.” 
All the volunteers working on this Habitat project say the same thing. They get a personal feeling of fulfillment from helping out a community in need, but they also gain something else that they can use later in life. 
“It’s actually hands on, learning how to properly swing a hammer, and learning how to use the drill, learning how to use the saw,” said Adele Lyons with Habitat for Humanity. “Just becoming very familiar and comfortable with those tools that they can use later on their own without help from anybody else.” 
As part of the program, Lowe’s has donated more than $1.7 million to Habitat projects across the country the past seven years.
Copyright 2013 WLOX. All rights reserved.


WLOX segment on the Women’s Build HFHMGC from SGV Habitat on Vimeo.

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2013 Day 3 – The video

As half the team is asleep, and four of the guys are screaming and groaning at the Denver/Golden State game…

We give to you Gary’s video of the day!

All this and lunch too!

Also: Preview for tomorrow:

We’re very excited that the Pam and Millie will be joining the Women’s Build

They’ll be working with teams of women in the local area on the build! It’s a really exciting last minute development

The rest of our team will be split over two houses, doing the rehab of both.

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2013 day 3

We are covered in shards of glass.
Worked on weatherizing an existing home for miss Peggy, who made us a great  lunch with fried chicken and red beans and rice.
Over half the team went into the attic to remove fiberglass insulation and seal loose air ducts.
We’re covered with fiberglass fibers and are itchy.
But we’re minutes away from our showers and a team dinner with our Americorps staff
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2013 Day 2 End

We’re driving back from the site

The rain knocked out a few hours of our ability to work a full day. But this is what our day ended up looking like.

We just finished praying for Americorps staff and then for the house

Not as many photos or video today. We were working and trying to stay ahead of the rain, being interrupted twice by storms.

Stopping by Quakes for our annual Uncle Roy Birthday Ice Cream.

Marie remembers us from previous years, and celebrating his bday here.

It’s Very very very rainy…
All of our phones, the car radio just went to weather alerts…
 there’s flash flood warnings in the area

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2013 Day 1-Summary

Beautiful Day.
Great team
very tired

Arrival on the site
Went out to the site to see our friends Paul and Denise, and meet our other Americorps volunteer staff. The site is two houses away from our site of two years ago.

Kelly led us in a morning devotional, then Paul had us collectively decide our stretching routine, including Heang calling for Jumping Jacks. The Habitat staff had loaded toolbelts, but were good sports.

Today we put up a few walls, worked with Jack/King Studs for the window sills. OSB went up on one of the sides, and we got to learn a bit about Heang and tools. Watch the videos, that’s all we’re sayin’.

We’ll let you see the photos and maybe that’ll tell a story.

Visit School Ave Home with Miss Jackie
We stopped by School Ave, the site of the LEED certified home we worked on last year. We were just
concerned of invading her privacy. Once she saw us, she invited us in. We sent in a couple of guys with the women, and you can see the video on our other entry for today.

It poured like crazy today. Hope it doesn’t tomorrow

Thanks for your support!