Rusty’s Blog
Welcome to Rusty’s Blog. I’m Rusty and I’ll tell you about the day-to-day construction activities of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry that provides affordable housing to hard-working, limited-income families. New homes are built by volunteers who donate their time, money and materials. Each completed home is then sold to a qualifying family at no profit and financed with a no interest home mortgage.
Our main construction focus for 2009 will be Phases II and V in our Hope Crossing development. Phase II is 60 houses of the 217 planned for the area. So far, about 110 houses are finished and occupied in Hope Crossing. If you get a chance, take a look for yourself. Hope Crossing is west of Kelley Avenue on NE 83rd Street.
March 8, 2010
We have a group of seven with us today from Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. They will be with us all week. They’re here as part of a national program called Collegiate Challenge. We look forward to working with them this week.
Collegiate Challenge is Habitat for Humanity’s year-round alternative break program that provides opportunities for students from youth groups, high schools and colleges to spend a week of their school break building a house in partnership with a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in the United States.
We’ll have out-of-state volunteers with us each week in March. We have groups from Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin and New Hampshire. It’s going to be a busy month!
March 6, 2010
Today, we’re framing two houses on lots that we acquired from Urban Renewal. The two lots are on North Wisconsin Avenue near MLK and NE 4th Street. OU Physicians are providing all the volunteers to build one of the houses on a Blitz schedule over the next eight Saturdays. The other house is a regularly scheduled build and today volunteers from OSU-OKC Construction Class, OU School of Dentistry, Kappa Sigma from Oklahoma City University and a number of individuals framed this house. The Twenty Something Class from Crossings Community Church group is at Hope Crossing landscaping a house. We also have a group of Sweat Equity working with Jason on getting a house ready to sell.
We have a fairly nice day today. There is some wind, occasional sun and temperatures in the low 60’s.
One of the neat things that happened today was that a volunteer, working on the OU Physicians house, who had done three heart surgeries on the infant son of one of our program families, got a chance to visit with them under much less stressful conditions.
February 27, 2010
The forecast calls for sunny and 54 degree high temperatures. We’ll take it. We have groups today from the OU Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, UCO Ladies Rowing Team, the Oklahoma City Chapter of Project Manager Institute (PMI), and Tinker AFB.
PMI drywalled our first house at Las Rosas, Kappa Kappa Psi worked with Jason at our warehouse and the UCO Ladies Rowing Team divided their time between cleaning up at Hope Crossing and applying house wrap at Las Rosas.
February 20, 2010
Today we are framing our fifth house in five weeks at Las Rosas. Volunteering there today are Midwest City Youth Rotary and Life Church. We have constant mist and it’s a cold and damp day. At Hope Crossing, Jerry is leading a painting crew made up of volunteers from Word Aflame Ministries and Maschino, Hudelson & Associates. It’s an interior job today. A group of 15 volunteers can put two coats of paint on the doors, walls, ceilings and trim all in one day.
February 6, 2010
Today we have groups from OSU-OKC, UCO Human Resources Society, KJ 103 Community Crew, and Aga Khan Youth & Sports Board as well as several individuals and program participants.
Most of the activity today is at our new Las Rosas development south of SE 25th Street between South Byers Avenue and South Lindsay Avenue. Two houses were framed. We also had volunteers at our warehouse and at Hope Crossing.
We thank all of our volunteers who are with us today. We could not do what we do without you.
January 23, 2010
It’s a big day today as we have a large group of Oklahoma Christian students and individuals framing the first house in our new Las Rosas development. Las Rosas is south of SE 25th Street between South Byers Avenue and South Lindsay Avenue . We’ll eventually build 31 houses there. At Hope Crossing, a group of volunteers from Coppermark Bank worked with Joanne and a group from UCO Women’s Golf worked with Jerry. A group from Life Church, Edmond Campus, Individuals, and Program Participants painted with Aaron and Mike.
We were blessed today with outstanding volunteers. We thank them for their time and effort.
A lunch of submarine sandwiches was provided to our volunteers today by Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches on Memorial Road near Bryant Avenue. We thank them for their kindness.
January 18, 2010
It’s a special day for us as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day of Service. We thank Cecil Ray for leading a group of his fellow student athletes from Casady High School as we framed Jan’s house. Their group was so large that we had to find an alternate task for about one third of the 64 volunteers with us today.
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January 16, 2010
This morning we are greeted with thick fog. It’s one of our slower Saturdays as we only have a group of about 20 volunteers working with us at Hope Crossing.
January 15, 2010
We have a group from Edmond Memorial High School’s DECA Chapter with us today. DECA is an international association of high school and college students studying marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality and marketing sales and service.
The group today is about 35 members strong and working together, they framed Gloria’s house. Thanks to all. Good job!
January 9, 2010
We have about 35 volunteers with us today on the new construction side and 10 volunteers working on an “A Brush with Kindness” house. It’s cold but we got quite a bit done. Thanks to all who volunteered.
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January 4, 2010
Happy New Year! We’re back on the job today working one of our rare Monday’s. It looks to be a slow week as everyone gets back to their normal routines after the holidays. Forecast is for very cold weather before the weekend.
December 19, 2009
We’re working our last Saturday of 2009. Today we have about 40 individuals and program participants and their family and friends. It’s raw and windy and we thank everyone who came out to volunteer today.
December 12, 2009
Joining us today are groups from FSB Associates (Frankfurt, Short, Bruza Architects, Engineers, Planners), Choctaw Church of Christ, UCO Transfer Leadership Council, First Presbyterian Youth from Edmond, and our usual group of individuals and program participants.
Tasks for today framing a roof and working through the punch list on a house that will soon be dedicated.
We thank all of our volunteers for their time and effort today.
December 6, 2009
Today will most likely the last big Saturday of the year. We have over one hundred folks with us today.
We have three groups working together to frame a house in Hope Crossing. We thank our volunteers from UCO, OSU, and Grace Pentecostal Church of God for framing Chai’s house today.
We also have groups from Edmond Language Institute and UCO working on smaller projects and volunteers from Christ the King Catholic Church putting the finishing touches on their blitz build house. We thank everyone for making today such a success.
November 21, 2009
This morning it’s cool and a fine mist is falling. It looks like we’ll have a smaller than expected turnout.
Well, that theory lasted until 9 o’clock and our volunteers have all reported to their jobsites. Every group has been on the high side as far as total number of volunteers expected. We have volunteers from Putnam City North High School Key Club, Christ the King Catholic Church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, Oklahoma City Community College, New Covenant Christian Church, Frankfurt, Short & Bruza Architectural firm, BancFirst and a large number of individuals and program participants. By my count we had over 150 volunteers with us today. Thanks to everyone! Good Job!
We have Chick-fil-A providing chicken sandwiches for our volunteers today. We thank them for feeding our volunteers one Saturday each month. We would like to be able to feed all of our volunteers every Saturday. If you are able to feed our volunteers, or if you know someone who may be able to get involved, please call Steve at the main office: 232-4828. We have several restaurants working with us now and we’re able co cover about 1/3 of our Saturdays.
We have about 100 houses finished in Hope Crossing. When the area is fully developed and the construction is completed, we’ll have 217 houses occupied.
If you want to volunteer, call Steve at the office (232-4828). We work five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday with the exception of holiday weekends. Our day is from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. We will provide all the tools, supplies and materials. You need not be experienced in any construction trade. We have a staff of carpenters that will train you and supervise you. You’ll be amazed with what a group can do with a house in a single day. In one day the frame goes up, in one day the entire house is drywalled, in one day the exterior is painted and on another day the interior is painted (two coats), and in one day the yard is covered with sod and a tree, shrubs, and flowers are planted.
November 19, 2009
Today we will host volunteers and staff from Mount Saint Mary Catholic High School. As it turned out we had 72 volunteers from there today. Joining us for part of the day was cast and crew of the “Little House on the Prairie”, “The Musical”. Melissa Gilbert, the star of the show and part of the cast of the original “Little House on the Prairie” television series that ran from 1974-83 was at the build site for a while also. We would like to convey special thanks to the Mount Saint Mary group for volunteering with us today. It is difficult to recruit a group large enough to frame on a weekday.
November 14, 2009
It’s another full day around our construction sites. Jason has volunteers at the warehouse, Erich and Spencer have a group working with them on a “Brush With Kindness” house and we have two good-sized groups as well as a number of individuals and program participants working at Hope Crossing.
Christ the King Catholic Church is working on their build today with a group of about 20 members. Kudos to Joe Hogness and Sue Ryan for taking the lead with signing up volunteers and the care and feeding of volunteers. They are doing a superb job.
Our other group is a large group of about 40 that represent all of the Marriott Properties throughout the OKC Metro area. They are framing Dana’s house today. Thanks for your leadership Marilyn Kraemer!
October 10, 2009
The Marines have landed! Today we have 63 Marines with us painting, framing, and cleaning up. They did a great job. This group is mostly made up of men and women that will be going to the Marines at a future date. For many, they will wait until after High School graduation and then be sent to boot camp.
Also with us are groups from the University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma City University, Labor Ready and several individuals framing, painting and working on rehab work on a house on the SW side. We accomplished quite a bit today and thank our volunteers for their unwavering support.
October 17, 2009
Today is the OU / Texas football game. We don’t have large numbers of local volunteers but we have a group of over 60 young men from Pi Kappa Alpha at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Our volunteers did a variety of jobs today but the largest project was planting 950 pots of ground cover on the dirt bank on the far west end of Hope Crossing.
October 23, 2009
We start our annual Women’s Build today with about 35 hale and hardy ladies working in cold and windy conditions framing Crystal’s house. First Lady Kim Henry was on hand to greet the ladies and to kick off this three week event.
October 24, 2009
We start our Christ the King Catholic Church blitz build today. The parishioners are funding and building a house with us to celebrate their 60th Anniversary.
We also have a group from the FAA lead by our regular volunteers Gary, Neil and John. In addition, we have a combined group from a Fraternity and Sorority from Oklahoma Christian University.
We’re working short-handed today. Aaron, Jerry and Ronnie are in Guatemala working with a local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. They’ll return Friday, November 6th. Our affiliate tithes to Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala and our crew is there to help them build a few of the houses that we have funded.
October 31, 2009
With three staff on a mission trip in Guatemala, we have a smaller group of volunteers today. We still have our Women’s Build and Christ the King Catholic Church blitzes going on. In addition, we have a group named WHAM and our large group of program participants that are working with Erich on an ABWK house. We thank our volunteers for their outstanding work today.
November 7, 2009
Aaron, Jerry and Ronnie have returned from their mission trip to Guatemala.
Painting is the task at hand today. We must have at least 80 folks at Hope Crossing with a brush or a roller in their hands.
Erich worked on a house he started yesterday. Yesterday his volunteers prepped and repaired, and today his group of individuals painted.
April 4, 2009
Today we have folks from the C.L. Frates Company and a management class from UCO painting and groups from Christ the King Catholic Church and a group lead by our 2008 Summer Intern Whitney framing a house on NE 84th Street in Hope Crossing.
We have Chi Lambda Phi from Oklahoma Christian drywalling a house at Hope Crossing and the UCO Transfer Leadership Council working on this weeks A Brush With Kindness house.
Good Job Everyone! Thanks for your help.
April 15, 2009
We have four groups today. That’s pretty good for a weekday. We have staff and realtors from OKCMAR and from the Navy, UMB Bank, and Luther High School.
April 18, 2009
Today’s the start of our next three week blitz build sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and area Lutheran churches. We’ll finish the house in three weeks and dedicate it on Saturday May 9, 2009. Today, we framed and sheathed the walls and started the ceiling joists.
Framing a house on the south side is a large group of students from the University of Central Oklahoma “Big Event”. This is an annual event for the university. Today hundreds of students from UCO
volunteer with dozens of nonprofit groups across Edmond and the metro.
In addition to framing two houses today, we have groups from Council Road Baptist Church working at our warehouse and Tinker AFB drywalling at Hope Crossing.
April 25, 2009
Today’s a bit slow. We’ve had a few issues reduce our pool of volunteers today. We have groups from UCO and St Thomas Orthodox Church and a number of individuals and program people with us today. The Thrivent blitz build continues with exterior paint. Thanks to all for their good work.
May 2, 2009
Rain weighs heavy on our planned activities for today. We’re painting the interiors of two houses and we’re working in the warehouse cutting pieces for doghouses and building framing components for several houses. We have a group from ITC Hebron and friends and family members of one of our program families painting on the south side and we have the Thrivent folks painting the interior of their house at Hope Crossing. On the Thrivent blitz build house we have Thrivent members, three folks from the GH2 Architectural firm and a number of program participants painting the interior.
Today’s planned Dog House Build for the Habitat for Canines program has been postponed to Saturday May 16th. Eventually, we’ll build 80 doghouses for low income folks with dogs in Central Oklahoma.
May 1, 2009
For a weekday, we have a huge day today. We’re framing two houses and completing a number of smaller jobs. We have a large group from the Frito Lay Company and Chaparral Energy Inc. with us as well as groups from USAO, Oklahoma City Community College, and Kingfisher High School Student Council. At our peak today, we had approximately 90 volunteers working at Hope Crossing.
May 7, 2009
We’ve got several groups volunteering with us today. We have volunteers from the Bockus-Paine architectural firm, Lexis Nexis, USAO, Tinker, and Thrivent. Thanks to all who participated.
May 8, 2009
Today we say goodbye to Dr. Nancy Osborn and her group of volunteers. Nancy is an instructor at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) in Chickasha. She, along with 9 students, has been with us Monday through Friday all this week and all of last week. They did a wonderful job! They worked with Nathan at our soon-to-open Renovation Station at May Avenue and SW 29th Street. Tuesday through Friday they worked with Aaron and the guys on new construction or with Erich on a Brush With Kindness house.
May 9, 2009
The Maxwell Supply Blitz starts today; our third blitz for the year. We framed Abraham and Maria’s house today and it will be completed and ready for dedication on Friday May 29, 2009. We’ve got a full crew of framers and Maxwell has its’ eight man Cook Team preparing ribs, pork tenderloin and sausage for lunch. They also served their signature baked beans. By noon, the walls are all stood and lunch for 75 has been prepared.
In other parts of Hope Crossing, we have a group from Chaparral Energy building rafters and cornice on the house that they framed last Saturday, and a large group of program participants and their family and friends rolling out sod and planting trees, shrubs and flowers.
On an older house southeast of the Capitol, Erich has a group of VA Hospital nurses and a number of program participants and their friends and family working on a house that was selected for our “Brush With Kindness” program. On this house, they will replace the floor in the back porch, paint the entire exterior and some of the interior, hang some new drywall and replace the siding on the back porch.
Just this week a decision was made to expand our ABWK program to three houses a week up from 1 house per week.
May 16, 2009
Today we start another blitz build with OU Physicians as the primary participants. Their house is east of I-35 near NE 23rd Street. Joining them are volunteers from the Marriott Hotels around the metro and Postal Employees training at the USPS National Center for Employee Development (NCED) in Norman. The Norman volunteers are from across the US. The tie-in between these groups is that housing and food services at the center are managed by the Marriott Corporation. With all the rain, we had extra challenges to get this house framed today.
Even though it’s a bit damp, we have a group from Life Church landscaping a yard on the south side. This is Jimmy’s house and he’s excited that his wait to close on his house is very soon. The job was accomplished by preparing just enough of the soil to put down each piece of sod. Good Job Volunteers!
We’ve got groups in Hope Crossing working on the Maxwell Supply blitz build and the Chaparral blitz house. Last Saturday, we framed the Maxwell Supply house. Today the house has a roof, shingles, doors, windows, electrical and plumbing rough-ins and most of the HVAC installed. Next week, it will be insulated, drywalled and have the interior painted. Dedication is set for Friday May 29th at 10:00 AM. Total time, start to finish: 21 days.
We have a group of our future homeowners and their friends and family working on a Brush with Kindness house near MLK and 10th Street.
Today was one of our more challenging days in recent months, but, by working together, all of our plans for the day have been accomplished. Thanks to all who participated.
Today’s Habitat for Canines project has again been delayed by the weather and has been rescheduled. It will be held, rain or shine, on Saturday May 30. We thank the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma for providing an inside space for us to work in case we again have rain.
May 11-15, 2009
All this week, we have a group of 12 from the University of Wyoming Newman Center. This is the 15th consecutive year that this organization has volunteered with us. Normally Father Carl leads the group but he had pressing work within his diocese and was unable to be with us this year. In his place were Brian Neely and Ted Cramer. Brian is the Campus Minister for the University of Wyoming Newman Center and Ted is the Executive Director with the local Habitat for Humanity Affiliate, Albany County Habitat for Humanity. Thanks to all for their help!
May 30, 2009
Some say the third time’s a charm. Today, after two prior postponements, we’re building doghouses. We have a large group of folks building what at the end of the day will be about 80 doghouses.
On the new construction side, we have groups from OU Physicians, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Chaparral. It was a great day for our affiliate!
June 6, 2009
We have two blitzes to work on today. Today we start framing the Arvest Bank house and we have the folks from Chaparral Energy working on their house. In addition, Leader Communications Inc are framing a house in the Village and a group from First Baptist are working with Erich on another Brush With Kindness house. We’re completing two houses a week with our ABWK program. We’ll soon be completing three ABWK houses a week.
June 3, 2009
For a weekday, today’s a big day. We have groups from the Hall Estill Law Firm, and AFSA Chapter 985 at Tinker AFB. Good job everyone!
June 12, 2009
Another busy weekday today. We have groups from Quad Graphics, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Edmond, Arvest and the Navy.
The Navy group was quite a hit. The Navy is celebrating “Navy Week” by giving back to the community. Erick has about 30 of their volunteers today working on a Brush With Kindness house. They are painting, replacing doors and windows and sealing our air leaks to help make the house easier to heat and cool. In addition to volunteers, we have Navy Officers and the media with us. One of our guests was an Admiral from Memphis.
June 16-19, 2009
We’ve had a busy week. Tuesday through Friday we had folks from Hudiburg building rafters, decking and getting their house “dried in”. Arvest folks were with us on Tuesday and Thursday. Thursday we had a group from Marriott Renaissance and Friday we had a group of 30 from Marathon Oil. Thanks to everyone for helping us!
June 13, 2009
Today we’re working on four blitz build houses. Hudiburg Auto group is framing their house with help from Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. Arvest is painting the exterior of their blitz house and Chaparral is working on their house. Over on the east side of OKC OU Health Science Center Doctors are painting the exterior of their house.
In addition, we have volunteers from AFS Image working at the warehouse and a group from Life Church working with Erich on a Brush With Kindness house in NW OKC.
June 20, 2009
t’s a great day for volunteers! Sunny weather, slight breeze and plenty to do.
With us today are groups from Walgreens, Arvest Bank, Chaparral Energy, Hudiburg Auto Group, Grace Presbyterian, First Presbyterian, Chickasaw Nation, Life Church, Bancfirst, and a large group of individuals. Chaparral landscaped around the house that they’ve been building since May first. They are providing added plant material around their house. Normally, we lay sod, plant one tree, two or three shrubs and some flowers. Chaparral has added more trees, shrubs, flowers and ground cover.
The Arvest house is nearing completion. Their house was framed two weeks ago and today all that remains to be done is landscaping, cabinet and countertop installation and final electrical and plumbing work. Both the Chaparral house and Arvest houses will be dedicated this Friday, June 26th.
Painting is a popular activity today. Jason has a crew painting in Moore, Erich is working on a Brush With Kindness house that will involve some painting, both the Arvest and Hudiburg houses are getting some paint and the folks from Chaparral are touching up the interior of their house.
We have between 100 and 110 volunteers with us today. Thanks to each and everyone for working with us today. You are the lifeblood of our organization.
June 22, 2009
We have a special group with us today. We normally take Sunday and Monday off for our weekend but today is an exception.
With us today is a national group called “Bike and Build” (bikeandbuild.org). They’re a group of young cross-country bicyclists cycling from Charleston South Carolina to Santa Cruz California. The purpose of their rider is to raise money and awareness of the need for affordable housing in America. In addition to this route, the group also has seven other routes across country. Our group has the longest ride. It’s 4147 miles scheduled over 81 days. Their route takes a northern turn past the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas and winds its way into Idaho and Oregon before heading southwest to Santa Cruz.
Arvest Bank also has a group of 15 with us today working on their blitz. Their house is moving right along. They will complete their house on a three week schedule.
June 26, 2009
We have a large out of town group with us yesterday and today from the First Baptist Church in Pekin Illinois. While this is a youth group, they have an impressive number of parents and pastors with them. Today they drywalled an entire house on the south side.
Also with us today are groups from Arvest Bank, Chesapeake Energy, the Air National Guard and a number of individuals.
June 27, 2009
It’s Saturday and we’ll have a busy day with construction and renovation once again. Our group from Pekin is with us again today. We have them framing a house at Hope Crossing.
The Hudiburg Automotive and the OU Physicians blitz builds continue and we have a large number of individuals who are working on the blitzes and helping Erich on a Brush With Kindness house and helping Jason at the warehouse.
July 1, 2009
We have another busy weekday. With us today are groups from Tinker AFB and from the Coast Guard Institute located at the FAA Academy in OKC. The Coast Guard Institute is the national testing center for all Coast Guard personnel. Every member of the Coast Guard, from the newest recruit to the chief officer, must take tests of practical knowledge to advance in their careers.
The Coast Guard group worked with Erich on a Brush With Kindness house and the group from Tinker AFB worked out at Hope Crossing.
July 11, 2009
We’ve got a wonderful collection of volunteers today scattered across the OKC Metro. We have a group from AFS Image painting on SE 30th Street, OU Physicians working on their blitz build on NE 17th Street, a group working with Erich on a “Brush With Kindness” house on NW 2nd Street, a group from the Charleston’s in Edmond painting at Hope Crossing, and a group from Devon Energy partnered with some of our volunteers framing Tausha and Marlons house in Hope Crossing.
As the summer progresses and we have to deal with 90-100 degree days we want to send special thanks to everyone who volunteered with us and were able to stick it out to the end. Good job everyone! Thank You!
July 18, 2009
Bright and early today we started a new blitz. Capital Distributing and OKC Metro area Henry Hudson’s Pubs have teamed up to fully fund and provide volunteers to build the first house in Phase Five of our Hope Crossing development. Phase Five is the far west end of Hope Crossing and is nearly ½ mile from Kelley Avenue. I know that Reyna is excited that we have begun to frame her house. The first day of construction is to do the framing. In the morning on framing day, there is a slab of concrete and a stack of lumber off to the side. As advance work, our staff marks on the concrete where all the walls go and then they match top and bottom plates with locations marked for all the studs, corners, windows, doors and wall ties. All the framing components are color coded as to where they go in the construction of the walls. Corresponding colors mark where each component goes in the wall construction process. Most of our volunteers are not skilled carpenters but with this method all the walls are up at the end of day one and it’s already looking like a house.
Meanwhile, we have a group from Life Church drywalling with Paul and Murphy on the far south side of the Village. Not long ago, this same team drywalled a Hope Crossing house. We like experienced volunteers!
The blitz build supported by OU Physicians continues to go well. Today the schedule calls for landscaping. Our landscape package consists of rolling out sod, planting a tree in the front yard and putting in a few bushes, shrubs and flowers. To make their job unique, OU Physician volunteers used some left over brick to make a curved path from the driveway to the front door.
Erich had a fine group of volunteers working on a house north of Tenth Street between Classen and Penn. Erichs program is unique in that we work on existing homes rather than building new. ABWK is a great mixture of homeowners, sponsors and volunteers joining together and making a real difference in a neighborhood. We do weatherization, repairs, painting and maintenance on these houses. With sponsors and volunteers we are able to offer this program at no charge to the homeowner. We do ask that the owners and their families provide 30 hours of volunteer labor to one of our programs.
July 25, 2009
Today Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity has volunteers and staff spread across a large portion of the Metro. Erich has a crew doing light repairs and maintenance on a house in east central OKC, we have a combined crew of framers made up of folks from Hertz and Girling Health Care framing Tarsha’s house in Hope Crossing, and a group from Capital Distributing / Henry Hudson’s working on their blitz in Hope Crossing and a group of future homeowners helping Jason at our warehouse on the south east side of town painting and building framing components.
We’d like to thank everyone who helped us today! We’re always looking for more volunteers. If you would like to work with us please give Steve a call at the office (232-4828).
July 29, 2009
For a Wednesday we have a very busy day. Erich has a group from SandRidge Energy working on a Brush With Kindness house on NW 47th Street. We also have a large group of high school students framing a house from Oklahoma Christian University’s Academy of Leadership & Liberty. From their website: The mission of the Academy is to promote principles of leadership and liberty, which uplifts souls, engages minds and touches the hearts of servant leaders throughout the world.”
We thank everyone for their support and help.
August 1, 2009
All week, the weatherman has been less than optimistic with today’s forecast. Thankfully, he’s wrong again. Today started with a few scattered showers and then turned into a nice day. We’re framing two houses, drywalling a house, building framing components at the warehouse and have volunteers working on a Brush With Kindness house.
We have folks from St. Elijah’s, Word Aflame Ministries, Capital Distributing, and Henry Hudson’s volunteering with us today. We thank them all for their assistance. Well done!
August 7, 2009
Today we have a large group of volunteers from the Ford Center and the Cox Convention Center working on one of our Brush With Kindness houses. This house has turned out to be a more difficult project because of hidden damage done by water and termites. I want to thank all of our volunteers who worked with us today.
August 8, 2009
We’ve had a lighter than expected turnout of volunteers today. Early on, we were thinking that we’d have to consolidate groups and get a lesser number of jobs done. It turns out that we had enthusiastic and skilled volunteers and all the tasks planned for today were completed. Good job all! Thanks for your help.
Our group from All Souls Episcopal Church framed a house that one of their members will buy. Capital Distributing / Henry Hudson’s volunteers painted the interior of their house. We had a group from Chesapeake Energy sheath a house and a group from St John Missionary Baptist Church along with some individuals paint the interior of one of our houses. Jason had a small group of volunteers to build components at the warehouse and Erich also had a few volunteers to help with Brush for Kindness.
If you are interested in learning some home improvement skills, I’d recommend working with Erich on our Brush With Kindness houses. He paints, repairs windows, replaces windows, insulates and weatherizes. To volunteer, please call Steve at the Habitat office. The number is 232-4828. Erich works on Brush With Kindness houses Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
August 15, 2009
Our largest group today is from the OKC group of PMI (Project Management Institute). They are drywalling a house in Hope Crossing on NE 83rd Street. We have a small group with us today from BancFirst as well as a large number of individuals, program people and their friends and families. We’ve gotten several tasks complete and it has been a very productive day.
The Capital Distributing/Henry Hudsons blitz continues into its’ fourth Saturday. Dedication will be next Saturday. The house for Reyna and her family is looking great.
We were fortunate to have Operators from area Chick-fil-A restaurants prepare and serve a chicken sandwich lunch to all of our volunteers today. Needless to say; A good time was had by all. Thanks for the lunch, it was delicious! We’re going to try to do this more often. A simple, shared meal is a great way to build community and good will among our families and volunteers.
August 22, 2009
We have a great deal of activity today. The Capital / Henry Hudsons blitz build is finished and today it’s dedicated to the homeowner and her children. The house was completed in four weeks.
We have Modular Services / Headwalls Inc, framing a house. One of the things this company makes is the unit that’s in the wall at the head of a hospital bed that has all the equipment and gadgets.
We also have volunteers from International Pentecostal Church
as well as many Individuals and program participants with us today.
Erich has a group working on the exterior of a house painting and doing minor repairs that was selected to be part of our ABWK program.
Jason has a group at the warehouse cleaning and building framing components.
August 29, 2009
With us today are volunteers from St John Missionary Baptist Church, and IBC Bank working with Mike and Jerry from our staff framing a house. Assisting these two groups is a large number of individual volunteers and program participants.
Groups from Cherokee Hills Christian Church and Coppermark Bank are working with Murphy and Ronnie drywalling a house on NE 84th Street.
Erich has a large group of volunteers from Hertz painting, weatherizing and repairing a house in Central OKC.
September 12, 2009
For such an overcast, humid day, we were lucky enough to get a great deal of work done today before the inevitable rain storm crossed our construction sites. Today we have Chaparral Energy on the second day of their framing. Chaparral Energy and their employees have been long-time supporters of our affiliate.
For the second time in as many years, we have Devon Energy funding and supplying volunteers to build a house on our accelerated blitz build schedule. Today they framed. In three weeks they will have a completed house.
Next door to the Devon house, we have IBC Bank, Navy personnel, program participants and individual volunteers framing. It’s not often that we have three framings going at once. All three framings are in the same block on the far west end of Hope Crossing on Hurst Court.
Volunteers from St Andrews Catholic Church are painting the interior of one of our houses. We’re lucky enough to have David Brinlee lead this painting crew today. He’s a pro painter did a great job.
We have program participants earning their sweat equity working with Erich and Jason.
September 19, 2009
We had hoped that after a rainy week, the weather would cooperate with us on our most busy day of the week. We were wrong. There was light rain when we arrived at Hope Crossing this morning. The rain was supposed to end at 9 AM according to the weather reports. It continued to rain after 9 AM. The updated forecast said that the rain would end by noon. It continued to rain after noon. Many thanks to the high percentage of volunteers who stayed with us until the end.
We started the Thrivent Blitz today by framing their house. The Devon Blitz continues and we have a group from Life Church helping Erich on a Brush With Kindness house.
September 26, 2009
Today is a whole different day. It’s dry and sunny. A wonderful time to be busy working outside.
We have a special blitz build starting today. Members of three community denominations have joined hands and are building a house in Hope Crossing. Sharing the responsibilities are members of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ and the Church of Christ.
The Thrivent and Devon blitz builds continue and are looking good. This is the end of week two for Devon and week one for Thrivent. Devon will complete their house this coming week and Thrivent will finish their house within the next two weeks. Both groups are painting today. Devon inside and Thrivent outside. It’s an awesome achievement to start a house and finish in three weeks.
Erich is working on the southwest side doing a lot of work on “A Brush With Kindness” house. He and his crew of twenty or so volunteers are replacing windows, storm doors, painting, caulking and generally sealing off airflow through leaky doors and windows.
March 21, 2009
Sometimes, success is more by accident than on purpose. This pearl of wisdom is especially true today. We have a number of small groups scheduled today. Because of spring break, some of our groups are larger than expected and some are smaller. In the grand scheme of things, everything worked out and we accomplished pretty much all we set out to do this morning. Thanks to everyone for their efforts today and their willingness to remain flexible.
March 16-20
It’s Spring Break all across America and today we start with two groups of college students who are with us all week. We have 33 people from Cardinal Stritch Catholic University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 6 students from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Maryland. On Monday, they all framed Jimmie’s house on the south side and for the rest of the week, Johns Hopkins University students worked on the south side and the larger group worked at Hope Crossing.
We’d like to thank May Avenue United Methodist Church in OKC and First Christian Church in Edmond for providing our guests with a place to stay. We’d like to thank Rick Keith, Johnny Carino’s, Johnnies Charcoal Broiler, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi for providing meals, beverages and snacks for all of the volunteers.
March 28, 2009
Well, it was bound to happen. We’ve nearly lost this day to the weather. We do have 15 hearty folks painting the interior a house in Hope Crossing. We thank them all for venturing out today.