Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 20, 1993 TAG: 9307200463
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RANDY UDAVCAK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But for a group of volunteers from Blacksburg Baptist Church, it was an experience that left them with fond memories, nonetheless.
From June 26 to July 3, the group traveled to Florida where they spent the better part of a week building a new house for a family whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew last August.
The 26-member crew was evenly divided between high school students in the church's youth group and adult parishioners.
The effort was this year's project for the church's annual mission trip. Past trips have included work on an Indian reservation in North Dakota and several trips to help poor families in rural Kentucky.
Some adults took vacation time to volunteer for the project. Others are retired, and still others were church members on summer break from college.
All those in the youth group were required to serve on at least five local projects first, such as the Hand-in-Hand playground project in Blacksburg, Habitat for Humanity work in Pulaski County, and various services for the elderly.
Looking back on the week, retiree Eldridge Rowe had this to say: "Exceedingly warm, hot and humid, and a lot of insects - but the effort was worth it all."
A veteran of four mission trips, Rowe said he was especially impressed with the effort and cooperation by the group's younger members.
"They just went there with the idea that `We're going to do that work,' " he said. "We had a lot of adverse conditions, but no one seemed to be upset about it. It was a wonderful group of people to be with."
Group leader Debbie Christian, the church's assistant pastor for youth, expressed similar sentiments.
"Even though it was hot and we had to sleep in very hot, crowded cabins and tents, and things like that, there was not a lot of complaints," she said. "They were just happy to make a difference. And when there would be a lull in the amount of work we had, they were disappointed - they wanted more work to do!"
The group worked in the Homestead section near Miami, which was heavily hit by Andrew. Under the direction of Habitat for Humanity, the group was assigned a specific home to work on during their stay.
Starting with nothing but a foundation and the remains of two outer walls, the group divided tasks based on experience. By the end of the week, they had erected all the outer walls, inner walls and rafters, and had applied the outer plywood and tar paper.
"There was a house right behind us that basically was done, and within a week we were caught up to that house," said Jonathan Purdy, a Virginia Tech student. "We felt like we accomplished a whole lot more than most teams did."
The house is expected to be finished by August, with other crews completing the work.
"It wasn't that hard," said 18-year-old Ben Hubbard, a recent graduate of Blacksburg High School who's been on two prior mission trips. "We just did a lot of hammering."
His brother Nathan, a sophomore at Blacksburg High, got his first mission experience this year.
"My brother and sister have been going on these, and they've had a lot of fun," Nathan said. "So I just wanted to go, too."
The group was among some 200 volunteers at the site from the Southeastern states, New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire. When completed, the 41 houses will be the largest Habitat for Humanity project in the country.
In addition to adverse working conditions, another obstacle was strict building codes and Habitat standards, which went beyond the experience of even the most seasoned members of the group.
For example, all wall studs had to be secured with special "hurricane straps," while plywood wall surfaces were reinforced with "hurricane clips."
Volunteer Marshall Shuler, a student at the University of Virginia, said one key ingredient was the energy level of the group.
"It really didn't matter to us if we messed up and had to move a wall or something," he said. "We just ripped it down and put it up again. Two hours later we would have that done."
According to Christian, the group leader, one of the highlights of the trip was getting to meet the owner of the home, whose name was Helen.
"She just showed up one day and was working alongside of us," Christian said. "We probably worked with her for an hour before we started asking questions about her. We just thought she was another crew person. Then we started talking to her, and she said `This is my home,' and we were so excited!"
It wasn't until later that they learned Helen had lost her 21-year-old daughter to a disease right before the hurricane leveled her house. She has two other daughters, ages 24 and 18 months.
"She was so thankful," Christian said. "She has such a sweet spirit about her; that's what shocked all of us, and it made it so special to work with her."
Recently, Blacksburg Baptist held a reception for the volunteers to report their progress, answer questions and share their experiences. In addition to construction skills, many of the volunteers reported learning a lot about themselves and each other.
As parents, spouses and friends gathered around pictures, slides and a videotape of the trip, there was no shortage of hugs and praise.
The most telling sign, however, may have been their response when asked which of them would do it again. All hands shot up before the question was finished.
by CNB