Webbers & Build day

The Webber family has been absolutely incredible. The routes this year are dedicated to their son
, Chris, who was killed in March of last year. He was a B&B alum and the program director for many of our routes. Today, people in our group told us more about him and he was such an incredible guy. Judging by his family, I have no doubt about it.

Yesterday, a bunch of them joined us for our ride from Revere to Andover. Then, they had us over for dinner which was incredible. A bunch of family and friends of Chris were there. They helped shuttle us to and from the house. Then this morning they brought us breakfast and took us to our work site. Tonight they are giving us a thanksgiving style feast. I can't even put into words how much we appreciate them and I hope we can keep in touch with them on our trip. A big highlight was seeing a 5 year old, Brendan, do some crazy dancing and break dancing to 4 minutes by JT and Madonna.

Today was our first build day. A representative of Habitat, Tony, came last night and told us about the affiliate and the site we're building on. There were 2 houses weeks away from being finished and moved into when the block caught fire and it was all burnt down. The family had already given away its other lease and had to go elsewhere. They decided they want to wait for their house to be rebuilt on the same lot it was meant to be on.

Tony came out with his little son and I talked to him about how he has worked for Goldman Sachs for 15 years and to stay grounded he volunteers his time with Habitat 3 days a month. I hope to do the same once I start my job. I want to keep Habitat a part of my life and to never forget how much community service means to me.

Working on their house knowing the story behind it was incredibly motivating. I helped put up two walls (with plywood). Other groups put the rafters of the ceiling up on another house and another group dug holes and poured concrete for a fence at a finished and occupied house. Overall, it was a long hard day but it was great to see the tangible product of a days end. If we were here for more time we'd probably become master framers and get a lot done just like my Charleston spring break trip.

That's probably the one thing that makes me sad is we only have one day with each affiliate so we don't get as efficient as we otherwise would be. The flip side is I'll get to see how a bunch of different Habitat chapters operate which is really interesting to me.

Tomorrow we're off to another city in Massachusetts 45 miles or so away. It should be good.