{"id":9347,"date":"2014-03-19T17:32:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T21:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=9347"},"modified":"2014-03-19T17:32:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T21:32:00","slug":"habitat-magic-everyone-can-learn-to-hammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2014\/03\/19\/habitat-magic-everyone-can-learn-to-hammer\/","title":{"rendered":"Habitat magic: everyone can (learn to) hammer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"habtaylor\"<\/a>

Taylor Silvestro, SLU women’s field hockey assistant coach, nails it! (Note: she’s got her protective eye wear on.) Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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Or use a tape measure or saw, or help pick up around a construction site, or cut insulation board.<\/p>\n

When I agreed to serve as an advisor for a group of 15 St. Lawrence University students headed to Goldsboro, North Carolina during spring break to participate in Habitat for Humanity<\/a>, I had two fears:<\/p>\n

\"Myles<\/a>

Myles Guiler and Biz Alessi in the van as we head to North Carolina. It was a great ride, filled with hours of listening to all genres of new and classic music. That’s Joshin Atone at the wheel.\u00a0 Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

1. Could I survive the 14-hour drive in a van, and a week at close quarters…with a group of students?<\/p>\n

2. Could I be useful?<\/p>\n

The answer to both \u00a0turned out to be “yes.” In fact, the students and the work made the week a transformative experience.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I learned:<\/p>\n

1. Habitat doesn’t “give” houses to anybody.\u00a0 While Habitat homes are very reasonably priced and mortgages are offered at low-interest rates, the owners must purchase the homes. In addition, Habitat home owners must contribute a lot of hours to Habitat construction projects.<\/p>\n

2. Students who participate in Habitat for Humanity projects–whether at local sites or afar–are special. Our group looked forward to the week, performed on the site with enthusiasm and energy, and spread laughter and joy wherever they went.<\/p>\n

\"Tithal<\/a>

Tithal walks the girder between floor joists installed by…us! Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

3. You can<\/em> make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear–at least if you’re a Habitat construction site manager like Ethan or Tithal. These guys turned 70 amateurs into an effective team of carpenters and roofers. Over the five day work period, one house acquired roofing, exterior insulation, windows and doors; the other went from a muddy foundation site to a framed structure. You know more than you think you do, or you can quickly learn enough to be truly useful. I saw Ethan and Tithal train first-time-on-a-construction-site students into roofers and carpenters…maybe not ready for the trade unions, but they got the job done. No power tools. All by hand.<\/p>\n

4. The experience made me feel grateful every moment I was there. Grateful to be of help. Grateful to meet and work with so many wonderful people. Thank you, Goldsboro Habitat!<\/p>\n

Would I do it again? Co-advisor Taylor Silvestro, the St. Lawrence University women’s field hockey assistant coach, said it all for both of us: “In a heartbeat.”<\/p>\n

If you’d like to participate locally with Habitat, visit this page<\/a> to find an affiliate near you. If you’d like to contribute money to Habitat, visit this page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a photo collection tracking our week in North Carolina to give you a feel for what the experience looked and felt like.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>

From the trip down: North Carolina has very different laws (and much lower taxes) on the sale of cigarettes. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Sleeping<\/a>

Sleeping on the floor at the Goldsboro Community Center. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"hab5a\"<\/a>

First (cold) morning on the job. From the left: Taylor Silvestro, Anna Hughes, Emily Geiger, Libby Boissy, Julia Simoes, Morgan Kirby, Kellan Morgan, Biz Alessi, Margot Nitschke, Kiana Harris, Erick Sievert, Joshin Atone, Myles Guiler, Danny Lobo, Danny Hunt, Mike Theobald. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

Here’s what the two houses we worked on during the week looked like on the first day we arrived:<\/p>\n

\"Anna<\/a>

Anna Hughes helping to level crawl space dirt inside foundation. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

\"hab7\"<\/a>

The other house looked like this–roof crew gets up there for the first time. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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Steps along the way during our week on the job site:<\/p>\n

\"hauling<\/a>

Anna, Margot and Kellan hauling mud and water away from the construction site. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"The<\/a>

The roof goes on. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Habitat<\/a>

Joshin pays close attention as Habitat construction leader Ethan explains the fine points of barbeque, oops, I mean construction, to some of the team. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Morgan<\/a>

Morgan with Takisha, one of the Habitat home owners-to-be. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

In the background of the photo below, the foundation of the house we worked on. The more finished house was not one of our projects. But, note the windows piled against the other home we worked on. By the end of the week, those will be installed.<\/p>\n

\"Mid-week,<\/a>

Second morning on the site. SLU team happy about donated donuts and coffee. Krispee Kreme! We’re in the South. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"SLU<\/a>

SLU roofing “gals” on the right. SLU guys worked on installation of “blue board” (exterior insulation). At the ladder, our friend Stewart from Virginia Tech (one of the other schools on the Goldsboro site). Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Lunch<\/a>

Lunch break on the “front porch.” Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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The team had to eat. Working hard, y’know.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>

We ate a lot of peanut butter. One evening’s kitchen team made “breakfast for dinner” complete with waffles and we spilled out of the community center kitchen door to eat on the back steps. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"On<\/a>

On our final evening, we went to a barbeque restaurant. Of course. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

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Okay, the moment you’ve been waiting for: what we accomplished, along with the students from Virginia Tech, Delaware Valley, and Rochester…not to mention the real carpenters on the job, Tithal and Ethan. Here are photos of the two houses shortly before we left.<\/p>\n

\"Framing<\/a>

Margot, Biz, Myles, Mike, Erik, Lobo and Dan. Framing started the next morning just before we headed north. Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Julie<\/a>

Julia takes a final photo from the finished roof. Note windows and doors. They’re installed! Photo: Ellen Rocco<\/p><\/div>\n

If you’re interested in working with Habitat, remember to check out this link<\/a> to find a Habitat chapter in your community. If you’re a college student, check your campus. There may be a chapter. Or start one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 
\nOr use a tape measure or saw, or help pick up around a construction site, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9347"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9406,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9347\/revisions\/9406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}