Ah, the sounds of summer: the bang of a hammer, the buzz of a saw. These are not the sounds most high school students associate with summer vacation but these noises will probably spark memories of the summer of 2002 in the minds of three Darlington students. Seniors Garrett Manis, Russell Evans, and William Krueger are spending their summer break building a house for Habitat for Humanity.
The community service project is an Eagle Scout project for Manis. He is supervising the project, making phone calls, arranging with subcontractors, and getting building materials. Wheelers, a building supply company owned and operated by his family, is supplying building materials, additional workers, and contractors. Evans and Krueger are Garrett’s core work crew.
The endeavor began June 3, when Manis, Evans, and Krueger went to Wheelers’ main office in Marietta, Ga. for three days of training. They learned basic building instruction, reading blueprints, measuring, cutting, and safety procedures. The next step was to clear the lot and prepare the site for construction. They broke ground on June 11. Since then they have worked almost every weekday from early in the morning till late in the day.
According to information provided on the Habitat for Humanity International Web site, the organization is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. HFHI seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.
Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit, financed with affordable, no-interest loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses. Habitat is not a giveaway program. In addition to a down payment and the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest many hours of their own labor (sweat equity) into building their Habitat house and the houses of others.
