THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504280178
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Susie Stoughton
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
I should have expected Arthur Beamon, a teddy bear of a guy, to get so choked up he could hardly say, ``Thank you.''
He was overwhelmed last weekend at the dedication of Suffolk's second Habitat for Humanity house, the home he never thought he'd have.
But Beamon - his Birdsong Peanuts work shirt says ``Shy AJ'' - has been saying thanks for a year, each time someone helped build his house on South Broad Street.
He was nervous, he said, sporting a suit he rarely wears and looking like an expectant dad pacing outside a delivery room.
He pulled me aside to see his room - the bed neatly made and curtains at the windows. But he couldn't sleep there yet, he said.
He had moved some of his things into the neat, story-and-a-half house with blue siding and white trim. Upstairs was the bed where his teenage son, Turin, would sleep.
First, Habitat volunteers had to finish a few last-minute things, then get a certificate of occupancy.
A crowd had gathered in the back under a shade tree to dedicate the ``House That Dan Built.'' Dan Anglim, construction coordinator, had nearly worn himself out.
Anglim, a retired Navy captain and former teacher, finally ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. But he was back on his feet and beaming last week.
The project took as long as having a baby, though this nine months was nearly continuous labor, said Fran Alwood, the project manager.
``Habitat is about building community,'' she said.
The effort is often referred to as ``Habitat.'' Perhaps the emphasis should be on the ``humanity.''
Habitat's about people helping people, about families getting a chance to be families in decent homes they couldn't otherwise afford. It's about volunteers forging friendships that seem like families, about homesteaders working alongside their helpers.
Beamon, a single father, would work in Birdsong's maintenance department, then donate a couple of hours on the house. Homesteaders must put in 400 hours of ``sweat equity'' but everyone quit counting when Beamon passed 1,000 hours.
He never failed to thank the volunteers.
Habitat's about happy smiles as homesteaders see their dreams coming true. With the labor and some of the materials donated, the cost of the home is affordable.
Habitat is about making sandwiches or baking cup cakes for hungry workers or donating money for materials.
Anglim's wife, Terry - ``my right hand and left hand,'' he says - is the volunteer coordinator who lines up workers. Most days she was there, too, her sweatshirt hood over her head to ward off the chill.
Another dedicated worker has been Priscilla Jones, Suffolk's next homesteader. Jones, custodian at Florence Bowser Elementary School, worked tirelessly on the house for her future next-door neighbor.
Anglim hopes to schedule the work better for Jones' house so different crews can handle short-term tasks and no one gets too worn out. That has advantages, said Paulette Wickert, another tireless volunteer.
``But when you see it all getting done, you kind of get attached to it,'' she said.
Work begins in June on Jones' house.
``What I find so amazing is the energy level is so high,'' said Mary Keith Garrett, construction coordinator for South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity Inc.
``They've got to be crazy,'' she said. We are. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SUSIE STOUGHTON
Dan Anglim, construction supervisor, and Arthur Beacom, the
homesteader who will live in the new house, are glad it's finished.
by CNB