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June 9, 2005
Building BlitzFour families get homes though 10-day Jimmy Carter Work ProjectByRecord-Eagle staff writer Kerri Saunders never imagined herself as a single parent struggling to make ends meet. But when her husband moved out six years ago, the former stay-at-home mom enrolled her 4-year-old daughter in pre-school, got a part-time job as a cashier and moved her family from a quiet townhouse with its own yard to a cramped, low-income apartment - the only housing she could afford on her own. "In today's society you almost need two incomes to have a house," said Saunders, who lives in Traverse City. "Sometimes even couples who both work can't afford it. That made me feel kind of hopeless." In just a few weeks, however, Saunders and her two children will finally cross the threshold of their own home, thanks to Habitat for Humanity and the 2005 Jimmy Carter Work Project taking place in Michigan. As part of the statewide project, theirs will be one of four local houses built in just 10 days with the help of more than 1,000 Habitat volunteers. "They're all of our neighbors in Traverse City and Leelanau County and Benzie County," said Robin Grubbs, executive director for Habitat for Humanity -Grand Traverse Region, which has helped 60 families into homes since 1987. "They're people who know affordable housing is an issue and want to be part of something really special that will never happen in their state again." The so-called "blitz build" will take place June 15-24 on four lots in the Blue Ridge Subdivision of Leelanau County's Elmwood Township. A fifth house, already begun in East Bay Township, also will be completed by June 24. The event has been months in the planning and involves some 100 volunteer coordinators responsible for everything from food and safety to materials management, Grubbs said. "Coordinating it all - keeping people safe, keeping them fed, keeping them hydrated - is a huge project," she said. "By the time it happens we will have been coordinating almost 18 months to actually get ready to pull it off." Volunteers also have been working with paid contractors and Leelanau County inspectors to ensure that all phases of the building project are completed on time, she said. A Habitat trademark, a "blitz build" is like an "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" project, only involving multiple - and much more modest - houses. "We've blitz-built two houses before, but never four," said local Jimmy Carter Work Project Chairman Tad Minor, a piano technician and long-time Habitat volunteer. "We have terrific people in place, so I really don't have any worries that it's not going to happen." Minor said 132 crews, each consisting of six volunteers and an experienced crew leader, will be divided between the four houses. They'll work from 7:30 a.m. to mid-afternoon each day, breaking only for a noon meal under a huge "hospitality" tent. Midway through the week, they'll take time out for a team rally: a pig roast and worship service. Rallies will take place simultaneously at Jimmy Carter Work Projects sites all over the state. Altogether, 220 homes are expected to be constructed by 80 Habitat affiliates by the June 24 deadline, turning the state into one giant construction site. Among those wielding hammers and paintbrushes will be Saunders and her children, 13-year-old Kenny and 10-year-old Kelli. Each of the "partner families" moving into the Habitat homes is required to put in 275 hours of "sweat equity" on their own and other projects, thereby building individual and team skills, friendships and pride in ownership. "It makes you love and value and appreciate everything so much more because you had a hand in it," said Saunders, 37, who has already helped build storage sheds and floor decks and painted trim, baseboards and doors in preparation for the event. She said her three-bedroom, one-bath home with appliances will be in a peaceful neighborhood where her children can ride their bikes safely and where their dog can finally play outside. Best of all, it will have a covered porch where the family can sit together and watch gathering storms. While she will take on a mortgage, she said having a place to call her own will ease her parents' worries and give her "peace in my heart and mind that I'm going to be OK." "When I got that phone call, it was kind of like a dream," said Saunders, who now works full-time as a medical receptionist. "All my friends came and we were just in a big, wet huddle. It was like a big weight that was lifted. I had renewed hope." An international Christian ministry, Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 and now has affiliates in 89 nations. The first Jimmy Carter Work Project was held in 1984; since then, its founder and namesake has traveled to a different part of the world each year to build Habitat for Humanity homes. This year marks the first time the project has come to Michigan and the first time it covers an entire state, Grubbs said. While the 80-year-old former president is expected to work in Detroit and Benton Harbor during the event, he will not appear in northern Michigan. But that doesn't dampen local enthusiasm for the project. "As far as we're concerned, he's just on the other side of the job site," Grubbs said.
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Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
