We build, too! (Chapel Hill, NC)

Downtown Durham historic neighborhood restoration project (Friday site)










Hanging a porch ceiling (Friday)










Posing with the very proud homeowner, Cynthia Holland













Relaxing after dinner on Friday night at the home of a Chapel of the Cross parishoner, Mr. Crow











Our Saturday house in Hillsborough (before we started hanging siding)













Chris C and Kim measure twice, cut once













Yvonne and Ivey go bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s










Ensemble

Hi everyone, sorry I don't have time for a post right now, but here are some pictures from the past two days and I'll add a journal soon. We've had an awesome time building in Durham and Hillsborough on Friday and Saturday, but will have a tough ride to Winston Salem in the rain tomorrow. It's time for some sleep. Thanks so much to everyone who made our stay in Chapel Hill so very comfortable!

NEW!

We spent two great days (three nights) in Chapel Hill, the first day working in downtown Durham with Durham Habitat and the second in Hillsborough working with Orange County Habitat, the recipient of two-thirds of our donated funds. Our first day of work was pretty tough; our group was split up, and Andrew and I spent most of the day carry boards up stairs and nailing down flooring in an attic where it was at least 140 degrees. By the middle of the day, I could wring sweat out of my T-shirt. We still had a good time and met one of the homeowners, Cynthia Holland, who was beaming with excitement about her new house. The neighborhood where we were working was actually a historic part of Durham, where run-down houses were being restored to their really nice historic colors and styles. It’s a rough part of town, though, and I learned that two houses had recently been broken in to and all their copper wire was stolen—to be sold as scrap metal for maybe a couple hundred dollars, while the cost of rewiring the houses to Habitat was about five thousand dollars.

That night, we were hosted for dinner by a Chapel of the Cross parishioner, Mr. Crow, and were served great cookout food with the help of Mark, Larry, Jimmy, and Tammy. Don Click from Orange County Habitat spoke to us about the challenges of the housing situation in Orange County (check out my blog entry from April) and the difference that growing up in a family-owned home makes on children. For lots of interesting statistics, check out the North Carolina Housing Coalition here.

On Saturday we worked on putting up vinyl siding on a home on Tulip Tree Rd. in Hillsborough. Hanging siding is pretty fun, especially because we could really see the difference our work made at the end of the day. By coincidence, a home two houses down from ours was dedicated at lunch time, and got to meet the young Hispanic family with two little girls moving in. Their gratitude and excitement crossed the language barrier, and was a great reminder of why Habitat’s work is so important.

For dinner, Chris’s parents brought over zucchini and my parents brought over enough chicken to feed a small village (great luck, since we would need so much protein the next day!). My friends Ashley, Josh, and Kristen, and long-time roomie and coolest-kid-ever Ginny came over to visit, and it felt really good to be supported by such awesome people. Leaving Chapel Hill the next day would be hard indeed.