October Ends

This week we continued working on the home repair we started last week. I learned how to blow insulation into an attic (after cleaning out the raccoon poo) and learned how to popcorn a ceiling. We finished repairing the kitchen floor and made a bunch of repairs around the house like fixing the gutters, installing door handles and patching drywall. This week was the last week of Habitat Charlotte 30/30/30 events and we celebrated Saturday night with a Gala at the Fillmore. Staff, volunteers, homeowners and community partners spent the night eating and dancing to celebrate the past 30 years Habitat has been working in this community.

Now that the major blitz building is ending I’m hoping to have more time to focus on nutrition and fitness. This month I’m hoping to establish a more consistent running routine, take a little bit of time each day for my yoga practice, including creating a home practice as well as taking more classes, and being more mindful about the junk food I eat.

National Service Leadership Conference

This past week we went to the National Service Leadership Conference. It was an interesting couple of days getting to travel with my Charlotte Americorps team in a 15 Passenger van to Talledega, AL. We drove there on Monday, then spent the next three days attending class sessions, getting to know other Americorps members serving with Habitat for Humanity all over the country, and recharging our passion for the year ahead.

I have returned from the conference full of pride to be back in Americorps, passionate about participating in full time community service, and excited for the year ahead. Being around people doing what I’m doing and passionate about their lives and service and cemented in my mind that I want to continue doing this for another year, and has made me think about where I want to serve. Charlotte is an amazing affiliate, and being around Americorps from other affiliates has made me realize what a great place I serve in, and how lucky I am. Because next year will be my fourth and final year of Americorps service I will have to decide if I want to stay here (and I know I will still have much to learn here) or if I want to travel somewhere new, and experience a different community.

I went to a couple interesting classes this past week. I went to a session on Habitat for Humanity Global Village trips where I learned about the work that Habitat does on an international scale. It was fascinating to learn about the different opportunities Habitat has to go and build in other countries. That class made me very excited for my upcoming trip to El Salvador in April. I also attended a session where long time volunteers/staff spoke about their service and shared their Habitat experience. It was very interesting to speak with people who worked alongside Millard Fuller during the early years of Habitat and how their hard work and dedication helped so many people and expanded Habitat’s reach. I went to a class on volunteer engagement, which was interesting because volunteers are such an important part of the Habitat model, but day to day my team doesn’t see as many volunteer groups. I also went to a class on Critical Home repair, which helped to keep me excited about the work that I do. However I felt like I knew the information presented in that class, having been working in Home Repair since September. Finally I went to a session on engaging volunteers during disaster. I really liked learning about how Habitat for Humanity International trains and deploys volunteers to help affiliates in areas affected by disaster increase their work as the demand increases. I feel like during my years of service with NCCC disaster response was emphasized and I really had a lot to contribute to that conversation.

I also had the opportunity to meet many interesting people, serving all over the country. I connected with other Bike and Build alums, corps members currently serving in NCCC, and got to have thought provoking conversations with the people I currently serve with in Charlotte.

Thursday night, after the closing ceremony we piled into the vans and headed back to Charlotte so we could work in Friday morning. We arrived back at the office at 1:30 am- Just in time for 4 hours of sleep!

October Begins

This past week we started a new project. We’ve been working on Ms. Evan’s house, a critical home repair. This week I got to help rip out the bathroom floor, install the new floor, and tile the floor. We’ve been partnering with a church/nonprofit group called Crossroads who have sent us volunteers all week to work on this house. Saturday we also went under the house into the crawl space to do weatherization. It was the cleanest, easiest crawl space! We managed to finish all the under-the-house work way faster than expected! Last week we worked on the Rodger’s Builders house- a two story home built in partnership with Rodger’s Builders. They are celebrating their 50^th Anniversary and to celebrate they are building this home with Habitat. This home is also Habitat Charlotte’s first LEED Platinum rated home. It was an amazing week with so much to do and so much to learn! I was able to help with framing, punch lists, putting up siding, tar papering the roof, and a variety of small tasks.

This week I also started working at the yoga studio. Twice a week I go and man the front desk, and do a little bit of cleaning in exchange for yoga classes. After my shift I’ve been staying for the late class before biking home. It is such a beautiful studio, and a great community to be a part of. I’ve also been getting into a running routine. I run in the mornings twice a week with Kim doing a quick 5 miles before work, and at least once a week with Alex after work.

Busy busy busy

Last weekend Kim, Zoe and I biked the Hilly Hellacious Hundred. After a few miles I decided to bike the metric century instead of 100 miles. So I enjoyed my beautiful bike ride through Asheville and completed the 62 miles easily. Monday Ben came to visit. We checked out a local breakfast place and walked around before hanging out with my friends at the apartment. Tuesday he was pressed into services and came out to volunteer with me.

This past week was spent doing extensive prep work for the 30 hour Build house. We did a lot of hauling materials and tools to the job site as well as framing all the walls. Then Friday at 6am the Build started! Sean and I spent 12 hours there yesterday (4am-4pm) then went back this morning at 3. Lowe’s sponsored the house and had a lot of their employees out volunteering with us in shifts. The house started as a blank slab and 30 hours later was a finished house! It was a great start to Habitat’s 30^th Anniversary Festivities!

Tonight I’m flying to Providence to Run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon with Molly and Ron. It’ll only be a short trip because I have to work on Monday for the Rodgers Builders Blitz Build! I love my crazy busy life!

 

30 Hours later- the house is finished!

 

The family getting the keys to their house at the Dedication Ceremony

Weatherization

This week we had our weatherization training. This entailed suiting up in head to toe protective gear and descending into the crawl space beneath a house to remove all the debris and laydown plastic. Then we sealed the plastic sheeting and sealed any ducts that were leaking air. After learning how to do that on Friday I led a volunteer to weatherize Vanessa’s house (the house we started last weekend) on Saturday. The space under the house was so tight in the far dark corner I was really the only person who would fit there, and it was so dark I could hardly see. The space could only be navigated by crawling belly down, and in the tightest spaces I was belly down and could nearly feel the house on my back! I’m now covered with bruised from two days of crawling over rocks and hard ground. We managed to lay down and seal the plastic sheeting very quickly. We also grouted two of the three walls around the tub which I had tiled the day before.

When we started I was told that we’ll not have very many volunteers in Critical Home Repair but I’m glad that we’ve had a few. I love working with volunteers and hearing their stories and working alongside them. We do have one regular volunteer, Bob, who comes with our team nearly every day. Bob is 84 years old and has been volunteering with Habitat since he retired. He pretty much only works with T.A. but also puts in some time at the warehouse. Last week we had trouble getting into a good rhythm, but this week Bob and I rocked the teamwork as we tiled the bathroom. All this week Sean led volunteers and ripped up the kitchen floor, replaced all the rotted wood and then retiled it. Tuesday he’ll finish building a concrete support in the crawl space fixing the sagging kitchen!

Friday after finishing working at our house we went right over to one of the new construction sites to help out Alex and Kim’s teams who were framing a new house with a bunch of volunteers. About the time we got there the volunteers were leaving so we were able to help them finishing the day’s framing and cleanup before going back home. I love that our team finishes our day early enough to
show up at another site to help out. That day left me feeling incredibly energized and happy and I was glad to be able to work on a new site in addition to the home repair work I’ve been doing. I feel like I’m learning so much already and I love being an Americorps member again!

Full PPE

Under the House!

Crawl space: Weatherized!