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!

More Pictures

Here are more pictures from last week. Please check back later this week to see the great work this week's teams are doing!

Start of Second Week

The second week of the BWA Blitz Build began this morning in Kaplan, Louisiana. After arriving yesterday, the volunteers got a chilly start on the six houses they will be working on this week.

A special thank you to the churches that sent this week's participants:

Harvest Pointe Community Church, Charles Town, West Virginia
First Baptist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina
First Baptist Church, Sun City West, Arizona
Mt. Zion Fellowship, Charles Town, West Virginia
Potomac Heights Baptist Church, Indian Head, Maryland
Vienna Baptist Church, Vienna, Virginia
Toronto Chinese Baptist Church, Toronto, Ontario

Check back tomorrow to see pictures of their progress!

Great Week One

Week 1 of the BWA Blitz Build is complete! Before finishing the last work day, the participating churches that sent volunteers were thanked on behalf of the Habitat for Humanity affiliate and BWA for a great job done! On the right is a picture of BWA employee, Julie Justus, presenting a plaque to a member of First Baptist Church of Wilmington, North Carolina in recognition of their $10,000 contribution for one of the houses.

It is amazing to see how much was done in just a few days. We started with concrete slabs and now there are three houses standing. Next week will bring more volunteers who will start the second group of houses and others who will continue to work on the homes pictured below.

A huge thank you to all that worked this week and a special thanks to Lafayette Habitat for Humanity and Kaplan, Louisiana for hosting us. Check back next week as the construction continues!

Work Continues!

The volunteers did another great job today! It is fun to see how much can be accomplished by working together. There is an overwhelming sense of teamwork as strangers serve alongside each other and quickly become friends. The shared goal of putting together homes for 3 Hurricane Rita affected families is creating a bond that will continue far past this week of the build.

As the construction proceeds, many more tasks can be tackled simultaneously. The picture on the right depicts this quite well. One team of BWA Blitz volunteers is working on raising the trusses for Michelle Vice's new home. At the same time another group is laboring below, covering the outside of the house with the foam board that will hold the siding installed next week. So much more can be done now that the basic frame of the house is complete and yet there is still a lot that needs to be finished before Michelle can move in.

Two churches from Arlington, Virginia sent volunteers to the build this week. The team from Memorial Baptist Church is a father/daughter team that is doing a great job on the house on lot 3. Working on Michelle's house is The Church at Clarendon group. Many of the participants from all of the churches are using their limited vacation time from work to come and help build the homes. This sacrifice is much appreciated! Below is a picture of the team from The Church at Clarendon and Michelle standing outside her house at the end of today.

It is hard to believe that the end of week one is tomorrow. Time is certainly flying by! We all look forward to seeing how much we can accomplish before many of us have to travel home.

Wonderful Wednesday

The sun was brutal today in Kaplan, Louisiana at the site of the BWA Blitz Build. However, the weather did not stop the more than 30 volunteers from continuing their work. The build must go on! While there were many water breaks and rests in the shade to keep everyone safe, all three of the houses made great progress.

While it is not a competition between the three houses, as the important part of Habitat's construction plan is to make sure everyone is a part of the team and participating regardless of skill level; there is still one house that seems to be coming together quite quickly! On lot four, the future home of Suzette Bonin, the volunteers are men from First Baptist Church, Wilmington, North Carolina and Shades Crest Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. Under the direction of House Leader, Gary Wilcox, the group is a building machine! The picture on the right is the men raising a truss in the morning. Working skillfully and quickly, the men were able to complete this part of the construction progress by the end of the day. Great job, guys!

Everyone is excited to see how much can be done by the end of the week. However, it is nice to know that another group of eager volunteers are getting ready to travel to continue the BWA Blitz Build next week. We are all planning to rest up tonight to be ready for another great day tomorrow!

Successful Day 2

Today was another good, but hot, day in Louisiana for those participating in the BWA Blitz Build. We worked hard but the results were well worth it! By the end of the afternoon all three houses had made quite a bit of progress, and volunteers left both tired and happy with all that they had accomplished.

One highlight of the day was spending more time working alongside the homeowners. Those who will move into the houses are required to do "sweat equity" hours, a way for the owner to give back to Habitat and to participate in the building process. Michelle Vice, one of the homeowners for the houses being constructed this week, is pictured on the right. After finishing her job delivering mail for the post office, Michelle came by her future home, sponsored in part by Baptist World Aid, to help with the work being done. A true delight to meet, she is a hard worker and is becoming quite a skilled carpenter. She is also giving those who are volunteering an insiders guide to the good places to get authentic Cajun cooking for dinner. Michelle shared that she is currently living in a camper on her mother's property and is looking forward to moving in as soon as the house is complete. The picture below shows all the work that has been done on Michelle's house so far. It looks like she will be moving in very soon!

Tomorrow we are looking forward to making Michelle's hope for a simple and decent home one step closer to reality.

First Day Complete

Hello from Louisiana! Today was the first day of our BWA Blitz Build and what a day it was! We started with concrete slabs on three houses and by the end of the day we had constructed and raised exterior walls for all three.

The morning was an early one as we met at 7:30 for a time of prayer and reflection. The Habitat affiliate greeted the volunteers from Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia churches warmly and shared with us a bit about the destruction that occurred in Vermillion Parish during Hurricane Rita. After the time of introductions, the more than 30 participants were invited to write a blessing on the front door headers that will be hung above the three homes we started today. It was a meaningful experience as we thought of all the dreams and hopes the families have wrapped up in the homes that we are helping to build.

One of the churches that is participating this week is First Baptist Church, Wilmington, North Carolina. This Global Impact Church has provided the seed money for one of the homes that was started today. The team is energetic and was actually the first construction group to raise all of their walls! Below is the picture of the team standing in front of the house that they helped sponsor and will help build all this week. Thank you First Baptist Church!

Check back tomorrow to see the progress that we make on Day 2!

Blitz Build construction begins

The BWA Blitz Build got underway this morning as volunteers began construction in Kaplan, Louisiana. Over the next four weeks, participants will build six homes for families affected by Hurricane Rita. Check this blog regularly for updates and photos from the Blitz Build.

Home Dedications

You are invited to participate in the dedication service for the 6 homes we will be building!

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

Please RSVP by email to fawn@habitatlafayette.org.

Baptist World Alliance to build houses in Louisiana, seeks volunteers

The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is joining together with the Lafayette affiliate of Habitat for Humanity to build six homes in southwest Louisiana for families affected by Hurricane Rita, a category five storm that hit the Gulf Coast of the USA in September of 2005.

More than 250 volunteers are expected to participate throughout the course of the four-week “BWA Blitz Build” in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, from April 20 to May 17, 2008. Nearly one-third of the homes in the parish were destroyed by Hurricane Rita, and many people remain in temporary housing or live in homes still damaged by the storm.

Suzette Bonin and her young daughter were living three miles from Vermilion Bay when the hurricane hit, inundating their home with 17 feet of water, and destroying all of their belongings.

The apartment of Allen and Shacira Savoy was flooded by the storm. 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.

James and Susan Gibson lost everything they owned in the hurricane. The couple moved in with their son, but his trailer was destroyed by a tornado and they were forced to relocate again.

These families, and three additional families, will be beneficiaries of the homes constructed during the Blitz Build. As part of the Habitat program, the new homeowners will contribute “sweat equity” by helping to build their home, by volunteering at the Habitat ReStore, or by taking classes about home ownership.

Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the BWA, provided funds toward the construction of three of the homes to be built during the Blitz. Three BWA Global Impact Churches, First Baptist Church of Wilmington, North Carolina, Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Virginia, and Seventh & James Baptist Church, in Waco, Texas, contributed money needed for the additional three homes. Volunteers from several Baptist churches will help with the building.

This year’s Blitz is the second in which the BWA has participated. In the 2007 Blitz, volunteers constructed 12 homes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for victims of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

Volunteers are still needed for the 2008 Blitz Build, especially for the weeks of May 4-10 and May 11-17. Both individuals and church groups are encouraged to participate. For information about volunteering, contact jjustus@bwanet.org.