Ecumenical Build 2008

2008-05-19T14:41:00.001-07:00

Lutheran Landscaping Team!

2008-05-12T12:47:00.001-07:00

2008-05-07T13:46:00.001-07:00

2008-05-07T13:40:00.001-07:00

2008-05-07T11:10:00.001-07:00

P.H.D.'s Are Handy

2008-04-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

It was a dirty and detail-oriented day on Saturday. However, Bee Creek United Methodist Church rose to the challenge and completed a lot of interior painting, exterior trim, and digging. Thanks, to everyone, for your work all day!

The diggers, thankfully, all had P.H.D.’s. No, silly, not the university-professor kind of Ph.D, but rather the Post Hole Digger. Much to volunteers’ dismay, our electric digger (a.k.a. the auger) is broken, and they had to dig by hand. But, in the long run, I think this made for a more interesting afternoon…

Chris and Clayton were digging a post hole right next to house when they happened upon a buried rubber kiddie pool. After much cutting and stabbing and laughing, the ground around them was strewn with orange kiddie pool carnage. I think the auger would have eaten right through the pool, but with their P.H.D., Chris and Clayton got to be regular Indiana Joneses (a true archeologist with a Ph.D), excavating their way through the pool with much adventure and action (well, kind of…).

This Saturday, May 3, I’m going to be out of town, so Bill Aguayo, the friendliest person I’ve ever met, will be site-leading. Get ready to paint and build a fence, and watch out for bear hugs: Bill is a heck of a hugger.

Eliza

Lutherans Are Not Claustrophobic

2008-04-22T14:06:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a day of big changes and small spaces. St. Martin’s and Faith Lutheran Churches painted, assembled, and installed cabinets, interior doors, and interior shelving in Alice’s house. Thanks for all your work, everybody! The inside of the house took a huge step forward.

Returning to the circus theme, there were contortionists on site! All day long, I marveled at volunteers working in very small spaces. Act 1: surrounded by open, grassy fields, six painters set up shop inside the Mini Mobile (which is a metal storage unit, roughly size of two King-sized beds). Act 2: Bill and his wife Connie (who I’m still not sure knew what they were getting into…) put up siding in a space the size of a roomy coffin. And the grand finale: eight people, from among a houseful of doors, chose to ALL install ones in the hallway, wedging bodies, nail guns, levels, doors, and a partridge in a pear tree into 30 square feet. It was a spectacle unmatched by Cirque du Soleil! I didn’t know Lutherans were contortionists, but the proof is undeniable.

This Saturday will be a combination of detail work and brute force: we’ll be doing detailed painting, and also digging holes and setting fence posts. So, decide in advance if you’re a micro-manager, Atlas in disguise, or small enough to hide in a cabinet to avoid all the work (just not the one in the corner; that’s the one I hide in), and come on out to help work on Alice’s house!

Eliza

Sheetrocking and Rolling! (With Some Classic Movies Thrown In…)

2008-04-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

After Day 4 of the build, I spent the weekend in Kansas. Looking at a brochure for the “Wizard of Oz Museum” (tornado ride not included, unfortunately), I thought about for what I might petition the wizard. Luckily, since I didn’t make it to the museum, the First Baptists had already brought me what I needed: energy, noise, enthusiasm, and lots of hard work. With the radio blaring, the Baptists sheetrocked and rolled through Alice’s house, putting up all the sheetrock (a.k.a. drywall, wallboard) on the walls and helping the inside of the house catch up to the outside. Thanks!

We also had a great crew working on the remaining exterior details of the house: Taylor and his able assistants finished some trim work on the back of the house, while Alice led a group putting a second coat of paint on the exterior of her house.

My favorite moment of the day:
I spent the afternoon on the roof, and when I finally descended, Kevin from First Baptist emerged from the house, smeared with sheetrock dust and wearing a piece of paper tied around his forehead, Rambo-style. (There should be a picture coming…) It looked as though he’d gone into battle, and having seen the final results of the Baptists’ hard work, I’d say he was emerging victorious.

This Saturday, we’ll be attacking interior doors and trim. Click your heels three times, and show up at Alice’s home to help!

Eliza

The Sublime and the Ridiculous (But Still a Little Scary)

2008-04-08T09:41:00.001-07:00

My grandmother used to tell me that powerful things come in small packages—like dynamite. Last Saturday, Day 3 of the Ecumenical Build, a small and dedicated group of volunteers from Westlake Hills Presbyterian proved her right. Although they were smaller than the average volunteer group, the Presbyterians packed a powerful punch! We installed the metal roof on Alice’s house, painted and caulked much of the exterior, installed exterior trim, and put up soffit channel and soffit. Whew.

I’ve also heard it said that bad luck comes in threes, which I hope is true. After Ray’s fall last Saturday, I gave what was called “the most in-depth and exhaustive ladder safety speech that has ever been presented on a jobsite anywhere” to our Wednesday volunteers. Within 2 hours of this speech, a volunteer fell from her ladder inside the house, cutting her head to the tune of 11 stitches. (Thankfully, she, like Ray, is also doing fine; please keep her in your thoughts, too.) In response, I gave on Saturday a ladder safety speech that put Wednesday’s to shame…and promptly led to a ladder fall from one of our volunteer electricians during lunch (he only injured his pride, thank goodness). But, regardless, I’m ready to banish ladders from the work site and only allow people off the ground if they prove they can fly.

This coming Saturday, we’ll be installing sheetrock (the stuff that makes the walls) inside the house and doing more exterior trim work. Thankfully, there will be no ladders required, so feel free to come out and not fear for your safety. And, if you’d like to get off the ground, bring some Red Bull.

Eliza

P.S. More pictures are coming.

Day 3 Pictures!

2008-04-06T08:05:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Day 2: Who Nose?

2008-04-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delayed post. I was checking on some privacy issues. But, we’re good to go, so here it is:

Welcome back everyone! We returned to site on March 29^th for Saturday Numero Dos of the Ecumenical Build. Alice’s house has now undergone a huge transformation! This week, we were able to deck the roof (i.e. build it with plywood), paint the exterior of the house, and start putting up window trim. Saturday’s huge troop of volunteers from First Presbyterian were amazing. Thank you to everyone for your hard work!

We had a scary moment in the afternoon: Ray, one of our volunteers from First Presbyterian, fell off of a ladder. Ray is doing fine, thankfully: he came home after a brief visit to the hospital and is now sporting a colorful array of bruises and a nose with new character. Please, keep him in your prayers and wish him a speedy recovery. Thanks to everyone for your calm and caring responses during and after the accident—I was really glad you were there.

On a lighter note (and continuing the clown theme for the build), I found a red clown nose next to the back fence. Did someone bring it to the site? If so, kudos to you! If not, the coincidence is eerie. Anyways, I plan on wearing it off and on for the duration of the build, proving that clowns do, indeed, build stuff (contrary to the wishes of last week’s young Picasso).

This coming Saturday, we will install the metal roof and continue exterior trim and painting. Bring along your tool belts, your love of heights, and your red noses, but, please, no aerial acrobatic routines.

Until next week,
Eliza

2008-03-31T14:18:00.001-07:00

2008-03-31T14:15:00.001-07:00

The Ecumenical Build Begins!

2008-03-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Our Ecumenical Build has started with a bang! (Many bangs in fact, thanks to Bob’s sharpshooting with a nail gun all day.) Under the sunny skies last Saturday, March 15^th, we completed the entire skeleton of the house! This was great progress for Day 1, especially on a house design that Austin Habitat builds infrequently!

We were able to accomplish so much because of the great volunteers we had on site. Thank you so much to all of you for your hard work! The Men of Hope from Hope Presbyterian Church, a group from Emmaus Catholic Parish, a father and his daughters from First Presbyterian Church and many of our regular volunteers all worked together to give us a great jump start on Alice’s house.

In addition to the building, lunch was one of the highlights of my day (when is it not?). All of the brown-bag lunches at the house next door had been decorated by children. My favorite lunch bag featured a large drawing of a clown. Unfortunately, the clown had one of the red circle-slash signs superimposed on it (like a no smoking sign) and frowned out from underneath the caption “Clowns Don’t Build Stuff!” We debated whether this was a command (“Clowns! Don’t build stuff!”) or a statement (as in, “Not-clowns do build stuff. Clowns don’t build stuff.”). We figured, either way, that we were safe and in compliance: as much fun as we had on site, there were no balloon animals and the only red noses were the results of sunburn.

This Saturday, we’re taking a holiday for Easter, but we’ll be back on the job on March 29^th with First Presbyterian Church, when we’ll start building the roof and installing windows, doors, and trim. I look forward to seeing some of you then! Feel free to swing by anytime and see our progress if the pictures aren’t enough.

And, remember in the future, bring your tool belts, and leave your balloon animals behind.

Eliza Evans
AHFH Site Leader

2008-03-18T15:00:00.001-07:00

2008-03-18T14:57:00.001-07:00

2008-03-18T14:55:00.001-07:00