Wandering America
Habitat For Humanity, Dade City, Florida
by
Darrell and Judy
| The Habitat Experience In January we contacted the Habitat for Humanity home office in Americus, Georgia to inquire about the Care-A-Vanner program and opportunities for builds in Florida during the spring . There were openings for the Dade City build from March 11th to March 24th so we volunteered. The following are excepts from the Habitat's Care-A-Vanner website explaining a little bit about the program. If you are looking for volunteer opportunities I hope you will consider this worthy cause - you will receive far more than you give. Every RV Care-A-Vanner building project is a unique and rewarding experience. RV Care-A-Vanner teams have participated in house construction, roofing, interior and finish work, renovations and disaster relief. Those who prefer to be non-builders volunteer in the affiliate office or as “go fors” around the build site. There are ample opportunities to learn and plenty of meaningful work for everyone—no experience necessary. RV Care-A-Vanner builds normally involve eight to 20 RVing volunteers and last two weeks, with ten six-hour to seven-hour workdays. A typical day begins with devotions and includes morning, lunch and afternoon breaks. Aside from the opportunity to use existing construction skills and learn new ones, RV Care-A-Vanner teams experience God’s love in action firsthand. Lasting friendships develop as the group parks together, builds together, eats together and socializes. In addition, the team often has the opportunity to work alongside local volunteers and future homeowners—a truly unforgettable experience. Week One We arrived in Dade City on Sunday, March 11th and set-up the RV. This build provided full hook-up sites and can accommodate upto 15 rigs. There were even some 50 amp electrical hook-ups available. WIFI was available for $5 a week which makes us "happy campers". Our site had a great view out overlooking a small pond complete with a resident alligator (you can see two Habitat build sites in the background).   At four o'clock there was a gathering where we got to meet the rest of the team, receive an overview for the build, and have dinner together. Our Team Leaders were Laurent Cassie and Barbara Robins from Rogersville Ouest, New Brunswick. They have been working with Habitat for the past two years and have spent an average of six weeks a year on Habitat builds. Our other team mates were Ray and Kathy Heaton, John and Joanne Perri, Fred and Kathy Ripberger, and Robert and Linda Seaman. We were the only first timers in the group. There were two other volunteering RVers who spend several months at a time at this build site, they were Lewis and Becky Moyers and Ernie and Carol Richardson. The site supervisor was Mike Fremlin who is on staff with Habitat. What a great bunch of people and everyone of them are truly committed to providing homes to families who would otherwise have no way of owning one. "This is not a hand out, but a hand up." Judy spent the first week working with Fred and Kathy putting siding on Crystal's home. Crystal is a single mom with five children and two grandchildren (one of her children is handicapped). So there will be eight people living in the house when it is completed. Crystal was on the site helping out by doing whatever she could. Darrell worked with Ray and Howard on Jennifer's home installing the forms for the walkways and driveway as well as assisting with pouring the concrete. They also worked inside the house doing some caulking and other final touches. This house is just about completed and ready for the family. Jennifer is a single mom with two boys. Her husband passed away just before they became qualified for a Habitat home. What a blessing it will be for all of these people to have nice new houses that they can call home.   Joining us was a group of college students from Washington College in Maryland. These students volunteered their spring break to use their time doing something constructive for someone else rather than spending it selfishly on themselves. What a great bunch of young adults and a real joy to be around.    Each day a different church volunteers to bring us our lunch. We are certainly not going hungry nor are we going to lose any weight. Habitats builds are rated in pounds, 5 pounder, 10 pounder, etc. The more pounds the better the build; however, these are pounds gained, not lost. Generally we would get various sandwiches with chips for lunch, but this was not the case with the First Baptist Church of Dade City. They put on a spread that wouldn't quit along with table clothes and flowers - this was "fine dining" and we definitely could have used a nap after this "dinner". It was yummy.   On Monday evening we joined together around a campfire just to visit and share some wine. Lew and Becky entertained us with stories from their hike of the Appalachian Trail. They hiked the entire trail from Amicalola Falls, Georgia to Mt. Katadin, Maine.   Thursday evening we had a hot dog / marshmallow roast with the students followed by some games and music around the campfire. It was great fun until the mosquitoes joined in.    Then on Friday we all went to China Buffet to enjoy each others company and have dinner together.    What an eventful week. We were tired and ached and glad to have the weekend to recover, but we were glad that we decided to spend these two weeks in Dade City, Florida working with this great bunch of people while volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. Week Two
Some Final ThoughtsThe first week we worked on houses number 42 and 43, the second week we worked on houses 44 and 45. Habitat had previously built 41 houses here in Dade City and there are lots available for about 40 more homes. Our work day began at 8:00 with a short devotional, then a break at 10:00 and lunch at noon. We generally finished the day at 2:30 which left us the rest of the afternoon to take care of chores, go to town, and/or socialize with the other Care-A-Vanners.  During this week we worked with a group of boys from Avon Old Farm High School (an all boys school) in Avon, Connecticut and a group of girls from Ethel Walker High School (an all girls school) in Simsbury, Connecticut. Again, the willingness and enthusiasm demonstrated by these students was refreshing. With young adults like these our country will be in good hands in the coming generations. Thanks to you all. On Monday Judy worked at installing "hurricane straps" while Darrell helped install "Tyvak" and assisted with the installation of the roof sheathing. The students would work right along with us; a few of them had previous experience working on home construction projects. For you construction types see the pictures of the "hurricane straps" below. Tuesday we finished the hurricane straps and roof on house 44. Wednesday Darrell built headers for house 45 and Judy did roofing on the storage shed for house 43. Later she assisted Darrell in nailing together the headers. Thursday and Friday we spent all day framing and raising the walls on house 45. When we arrived on March 11th there were only the two foundations for houses 44 and 45. Now one house is completely enclosed and the walls are framed and erected on the other as shown below.     Another great meal was provided by Tom's Restaurant on Tuesday. It was a complete ham dinner with a garden salad, potatoes, boiled cabbage, and baked beans. After meals like these it is hard to get back to work rather than head for a nap. We Care-A-Vanners would get together for evening campfires, food, and wine throughout the week - it's a rough life out here but we survived. We had our farewell dinner at "A Matter of Taste" restaurant downtown Dade City which had very good food at reasonable prices. It was a bittersweet experience - after two weeks you begin to feel a little bit like family and then it is time to say "Farewell, So Long". Hopefully we will bump into some of these fine folks again as we are "Wandering America". The Team Here are the March 11 through March 24, 2007 Dade City, Florida RV Care-A-Vanner team. It was fun working and playing with each and everyone of these people.         When signing on for these types of projects it is necessary to accept the fact that the work force is made up of volunteers including the leaders so organization and effeciency is not always what you would expect. You need to come with a spirit of co-operation and flexibility allowing others (and yourself) room for mistakes and keep in mind that most decisions are not irrevocable or life threatening. Also, there are all types of personalities that you will encounter so you must be tolerant and accept others as they are; good hard working people who are willing to give of themselves for the betterment of others. And when people who have a giving spirit come together they usually will get along just fine. It does take a little time to develop working relationships and come up to speed as a team but after a few days you'll be surprised what gets accomplished. Here are some before and after pictures.  These
pictures were taken from our "campsite". You can see the
plumbers' vans in the background in the first picture and where we
ended on Friday, March 23, 2007 in the second.
 The
first picture was taken on Tuesday, March 13th. On Friday, March
23rd the drive and walks have been poured and the lot landscaped with
sod, trees, and bushes. The driveway will be extended as soon as
the road in front has been completed.
We left Dade City tired, sore, with scratches, bruises, and splinters in our hands but feeling proud of our accomplishments. We look forward to volunteering on other Habitat builds in the future and will possibly return to Dade City in January of 2008. |