Thank You!

Thank you to all of those who participated in the BWA Blitz Build, either physically or in prayer. We are excited about being able to tangibly show Christ's love to families affected by Hurricane Rita. It was a meaningful experience for all those involved.

Allen and Shacira Savoy gather with their five children outside their new home. They can't wait to move in soon!

Suzette Bonin holds her new Bible. She and her daughter, Angelle, are excited about seeing how much of their house is already finished.

As you can see, while much has been done, help is still needed to finish the houses and to start the next phase of construction in the subdivision. If you or your church are able to volunteer, please contact Fawn Viator at fawn@habitatlafayette.org.

Dedication Service

The Dedication Service for the BWA Blitz Build was held in Kaplan, Louisiana on Saturday. It was amazing to come together with many of the individuals who helped make the build possible and to see the progress made in just a few short weeks.

One of the six houses built with the almost
3,000 volunteer hours provided by the BWA.

Julie Justus, BWA Staff Member,
presenting a Bible to a new homeowner.

Melinda Taylor, Executive Director of Lafayette Habitat for Humanity,
thanks Linda Hardee, Mayor of Kaplan, for all of her help in organizing
businesses to sponsor the project.

Local pastor, Rev. Farley Painter, delivers the prayer
of blessing and protection for the new homes.

The service concludes with the Vermilion
Honor Guard performing a 21 Gun Salute.

Final Day of Blitz Build Construction

Today is the final day of construction for the four-week Blitz Build in Kaplan, Louisiana.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who gave of their time and resources to participate in the build! Because of your help, six families are closer to having homes of their own after suffering the devastating effects of Hurricane Rita.

Thanks also to the BWA Global Impact Churches that, along with Baptist World Aid, contributed money to help fund the construction of the houses. Thanks First Baptist Church of Wilmington, North Carolina, Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Virginia, and Seventh & James Baptist Church, in Waco, Texas!

The six homes will be dedicated tomorrow morning at a special ceremony held at the new Remington Road subdivision. Julie Justus, who works for the Baptist World Alliance, will participate in the dedication service.

Check back on Monday for photos from the dedication service as well as photos of the houses as they stand at the end of week four!

Thanks Lafayette Habitat for Humanity!

The Blitz Build in Kaplan, Louisiana, is highlighted today on Habitat for Humanity's website:

A ‘phenomenal’ response

It seems like the whole town of Kaplan, La., has gotten involved with a four-week blitz build in Vermilion Parish. Led by energetic Mayor Linda Hardee, who has now joined the Lafayette Habitat for Humanity board of directors, various groups have donated breakfast and lunch for 15 to 60 people, five days a week for four weeks.

Volunteers have included Baptist World Alliance teams, who have come from all over the United States and Canada, and local inmate teams supervised by the sheriff’s department.

At a celebration ceremony on Saturday, six homes will be blessed, and the affiliate will kick off construction on another half-dozen houses. Julie Justus of Baptist World Aid will present Bibles to the families moving into their homes. “This is the first large project we have done in Vermilion Parish,” said Melinda Taylor, executive director of Lafayette HFH. “The community has been phenomenal.”

(Courtesy of Habitat for Humanity, http://www.habitat.org/jcwp/2008/daily_overviews/day4daily_overview.aspx)

The BWA is grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Lafayette affiliate of Habitat for Humanity for the Blitz Build! Special thanks go to Melinda Taylor, executive director, and Fawn Viator, volunteer coordinator.

Melinda Taylor

Fawn Viator

Carter Work Project

The fourth week of the BWA Blitz Build coincides with the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project that is now taking place throughout the Gulf Coast. Lafayette Habitat for Humanity is just one of 17 different affiliates participating in the project.

Below are pictures from Sunday night's Opening Ceremony in Mississippi. We are happy to be contributing to the vision of "Going the Distance in the Gulf Coast" by helping construct six Habitat homes for Hurricane Rita victims.

Women Build

On Saturday the Lafayette Habitat affiliate hosted a Women Build. According to Habitat for Humanity's website a Women Build is:

a program that trains women to make a difference by building homes and communities. Thousands of houses have been built by women crews around the world – more than 1,200 since Women Build’s official creation in 1998. Each year hundreds more homes are added as affiliates, donors and sponsors discover the impact of women volunteers and their resources.

Below are some of the pictures from the day. Thanks to all of the women from the local area who gave of their time to help work on the six houses!

Week Three Wrap-Up

Week Three of the Blitz Build came to a close on Friday afternoon as volunteers put finishing touches on their work for the week, packed up their tools and prepared to head back home.

The six new homes line Remington Road in Kaplan, Louisiana

Week Three participants gather at the beginning of the final day of construction

Richard Buerkle from Memorial Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia, displays the church's certificate of appreciation from the Baptist World Alliance and Habitat for Humanity for participation in the Blitz Build


On Friday morning, Suzette Bonin, one of the Habitat homeowners, shared with volunteers pictures of her home destroyed by Hurricane Rita.

Volunteers that have come to Kaplan over the past three weeks from churches across the US and Canada have brought Suzette and five other families closer to having simple and decent places to live.

Construction will continue this week. Check back daily for updates and photos!

Week Three is Complete

Today volunteers in Kaplan, Louisiana completed the third week of the BWA Blitz Build. We are grateful for all those who gave their time and energy to come and work on the six Habitat houses. This Monday starts the last week of the project. It is exciting how quickly homes can be built when we work together!

There is an open invitation for the dedication service:

Saturday, May 17, 2008
10 a.m.
Remington Road Subdivision
Kaplan, Louisiana

Please RSVP by email to fawn@habitatlafayette.org.

Check back next week to see more pictures from the construction site!

Day Four - More Headway on Houses

Teams of volunteers continued work today in Kaplan, Louisiana, on the six homes being constructed during the BWA Blitz Build.


Volunteers pray together at the start of day four


Allen and Beth Garner of First Baptist Church of Lee's Summit, Missouri, work on the interior of a house



By the end the day, siding was nearly complete on two houses


Susan Gibson stands in front of her new house

Susan and her husband James lost their home and all of their belongings in Hurricane Rita. They moved in with their son, but his trailer was destroyed by a tornado, and the couple was again forced to relocate. The Gibsons are grateful for the many volunteers who are helping to build their new home.


In addition to the BWA volunteers involved in the Blitz Build, local volunteers are also helping to construct the six homes. College students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, high school students, employees of local businesses, and others are contributing time to the construction efforts. Local businesses and government agencies are supporting the Blitz Build by providing breakfast and lunch for volunteers each day.

College students involved in the AmeriCorps program at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette work on the roof of a shed

Employees of the sheriff's department cook breakfast for volunteers

Day Three - Construction Continues

Progress was made on the six houses today as volunteers continued to prepare houses for siding, install front porch posts, build sheds, add siding, and numerous other jobs.

Volunteers meet for prayer and for a safety discussion at the beginning of the day


Ken Vaughn and Doug Jaeger of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Virginia, stand in front of the house that Columbia helped to fund. Ken and Doug spent the day working on this house that will be the future home of Annique Watson's family.

Annique and her three children, ages nine, six and three, were living with Annique's grandparents when Hurricane Rita hit and did damage to the home. Subsequent problems with mold and mildew forced them to relocate, and the family has been staying with friends in a mobile home, where the three children share a bedroom and Annique sleeps on the sofa. The family looks forward to moving into their new home soon.


Hubert Yu of the Toronto Chinese Baptist Church, Toronto, Ontario, works on the interior of a house

Brad and Kelly Tomas of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, tape the seams of a house in preparation for siding

Tim Burke from Memorial Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia

A team puts siding on a house

Lore Lynch of the Church at Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia, and Lauren Weaver, who works in the communications division of the Baptist World Alliance, add trim to a shed

Day Two - Sheds and Siding

During the second day of construction, Week Three volunteers divided into small groups to work on projects at five of the houses.

A couple of groups began constructing doors and adding roofs to the storage sheds that accompany each Habitat house.


Lore Lynch from the Church at Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia, builds a shed door


Several other groups prepared homes for siding or began attaching siding. By the end of the day, siding was almost complete on one of the houses.


Allen and Beth Garner of First Baptist Church in Lee's Summit, Missouri, spent the day preparing houses for siding

Doug Jaeger of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Virginia, adds siding to a house


Adam Williams, Richard Buerkle and Bill Wodatch from Memorial Baptist Church in Arlington, VA, attach a piece of siding

Suzette Bonin stands in front of her house built by Habitat volunteers and funded in part by the Baptist World Alliance and First Baptist Church of Wilmington, North Carolina. Suzette and her family were living three miles from Vermilion Bay when Hurricane Rita hit, inundating their home with 17 feet of water and destroying all of their belongings.

Like all the other future Habitat homeowners, Suzette must contribute 300 hours of "sweat equity" by helping with the construction of her own home or other Habitat homes. She also fulfills her hours by volunteering at the Habitat ReStore in Lafayette, Louisiana.

She is excited about the progress on her new home and looks forward to moving in soon.

Day One - Raising the Roof

Volunteers from Alabama, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, and Ontario arrived to the construction site on Monday morning eager to continue the work begun by teams during the first two weeks of the Blitz Build.

With the aid of many local volunteers, the teams spent the morning putting roofs on two of the houses. Afternoon rain brought an end to the roof construction, so teams turned their attention to installing windows and other jobs.


Kelly Tomas from the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, measures a piece of plywood for the roof

Richard Buerkle from Memorial Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia, and local volunteers work on the roof of the Shavoy's future home. The apartment of Allen and Shacira Savoy was flooded during Hurricane Rita. The sewers backed up, and most of their furniture and other possessions were lost. The Savoys and their five children, ranging in age from eight months to nine years old, have been living in a FEMA trailer.

Brad Tomas from the Church at Brook Hills, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Kenneth Vaughn from Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Virginia, work on the roof

Tim Burke and Bill Wodatch from Memorial Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia prepare to cut a piece of plywood

Check back tomorrow to see the construction progress as Week Three teams help six families come closer to home ownership.

The Third Week Begins

For the third Monday in a row, BWA Blitz Build volunteers reported at 7:30 am to the build site in Kaplan, Louisiana.

This week's participants are from the following churches:

Columbia Baptist Church, Falls Church, Virginia
First Baptist Church, Lees Summit, Missouri
First Baptist Church, Springfield, Virginia
Memorial Baptist Church, Arlington, Virginia
The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, Alabama
The Church at Clarendon, Arlington, Virginia

A special thank you to Columbia Baptist Church for providing $10,000 as seed money for one of six houses being built. What a wonderful gift to a family affected by Hurricane Rita.

Please check back later for daily updates on the construction progress!

Week Two Finishes

The BWA Blitz Build is half over as Week Two comes to a close. At this point, all six Habitat houses are standing. Thank you to the seven churches that sent teams this week. The pictures below show some of the volunteers with their certificate of participation and what the houses looked like on Friday morning.





Safe travels to all those that worked this week and also to the new group of volunteers that will be arriving in Kaplan on Sunday. Please continue to watch the blog as the building continues next week. The word is that the six homes will soon have shingles and siding!

Meet Nicole

One of the best parts of participating in the BWA Blitz Build is the opportunity to work alongside the future homeowners. The picture on the right is of volunteer Sue Kunihiro (right) from Gainesville, Virginia hammering next to Nicole Fielder who will be moving into her new Habitat home very soon.

Here is Nicole's story:

Nicole was renting a home on Constance St. in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. She and her family evacuated to Vermilion Parish, where her brother-in-law’s family in Abbeville took them in – along with more than twenty other family members fleeing the storm. Nicole was finally able to find a place to rent in Abbeville and she works nearby at the Eastridge Nursing Center. She finds it difficult to talk about her experiences after the storm – as she puts it, “it still hurts my heart” – but after struggling with some stress-related health problems she’s ready to move on with her life and looking forward to providing a better home for her son Earl (10) and daughter Janae’ (1). Her sister Valerie Sturgis is also a Habitat homeowner in the E. Gilman neighborhood in Lafayette.

We're excited to help Nicole build her home!

Three More Houses Started

The teams this week have begun construction on three more houses. As you can see in the pictures below, the volunteers are working hard in Kaplan, Louisiana. Yesterday they started with concrete slabs and by the end of today both the exterior and interior walls will be framed. Great job, everyone!