One of the Flex projects that I have most enjoyed is the Rebuild a Home project. The project helps Habitat for Humanity turn a Novato foreclosure into a home for a family in need. It is a full day project, and by the time 4:30 rolls around you will be exhausted and not believe how much work the team of volunteers you are working with has accomplished. 90 percent of the work on the house is done by volunteers which means as a volunteer you are really put to work, not just assigned to the easy tasks. It is bittersweet because although you wake up with soar muscles you also wake up with a huge sense of accomplishment and pride in knowing you helped make safe, affordable shelter available for a family in need. No building experience is necessary to join our volunteers on the build days. The project is a great way to learn new, practical skills. Being the daughter of a carpenter, I regret to say that prior to the Rebuild a Home project days I had no carpentry skills. Although I had to crawl in some pretty uncomfortable spaces I learned so much through Rebuild a Home (my father would be proud)! I crawled in the crawl space learning to install insulation around the heating pipes and vents. Then I crawled beneath the house adding insulation underneath the floor boards and insulating the hot water pipes. Not only did I learn new skills crawling around these tight spaces but it helped me get over my fear of spiders! And of course not all jobs required working in small spaces; I installed gutters, did lots of painting, and spackled to do touch up on walls. It is always a really wonderful group of volunteers who comes out to work on the house and it is great to spend the day getting to know them.
I asked one volunteer, Fred, why he liked volunteering at Rebuild a Home. Fred replied, “Because it’s fun! Because there is lots of variety and you meet new people.” His daughter volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Iowa when she was in college, and as Fred said “she planted a bug in him.” Fred is now retired so he likes to do projects and donate volunteer work to good charities.
It is great feeling knowing you helped make home-ownership a dream come true for a family. Working on the Novato house has been a great experience for me and our Center is proud to help Habitat for Humanity on their mission to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.
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