Tuesday, April 13, 1999
Students part of 'blitz build'
Home will help low-income family
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
FRANKLIN — Amid the pounding of hammers and the whirl of power saws, 17 carpentry students from the Warren County Career Center this week are getting a lesson in life.
They are among the nearly 40 volunteers building a house for a local family as part of a Habitat for Humanity project. Officials hope to have the three-bedroom home on Rooks Lane framed and under roof by Saturday.
“You don't have opportunities a lot of times where you can help people,” said Steve Williamson, a carpentry instructor at the career center. “Everybody is not as fortunate. Everybody needs a little help.”
The Habitat program makes home ownership af fordable for those who would have difficulty getting a conventional home. Material to build the 1,000-square-foot homes is donated or bought at a reduced price, and labor is volunteered, said Chuck Wiedenheft, chairman of the Franklin/Springboro Habitat.
The families must spend 500 hours working on Habitat homes before taking ownership. Habitat then provides a no-interest home loan, and families are screened to make sure they can meet the payments.
After the families move in, Habitat teaches them about home maintenance, budgeting and house insurance. The Franklin home is for a couple with a daughter.
“We work with them even after they get the house,” Mr. Wiedenheft said. “It's not like they're getting something for nothing.”
The Rooks Lane home — only the second project for the Franklin/Springboro group — is a “blitz build,” in which the walls, roof and windows should be up within a week. Habitat usually works only on Saturdays, but will be working every day this week on this project.
“We wanted to generate enthusiasm,” Mr. Wiedenheft said.
Besides the human lesson, the project is a boon for the carpentry students, who are getting a chance to use their skills in a real-life setting.
“You can only teach so much from a textbook,” Mr. Williamson said of the carpentry class' involvement. “Once you exhaust those efforts, the best thing you can give these boys is some hands-on experience.”
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Students part of 'blitz build'
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