I'd like to tell you about my visit to Kern Street with two Habitat employees, Caitlin and Rebecca. Caitlin is the Public Relations & Procurement Coordinator and Rebecca is the Resource Development Manager.
As soon as we arrived on Kern Street, which is located in Cinnaminson, I realized that this would be a nice place for a Habitat Partner Family to live. In this particular case, there are two houses under construction.
544 Kern
The first house we went to is in the latter stages of construction so we were able to tour the entire house and get a good picture of what it is going to look like. This house has a nice big porch right in the front. When we entered the house, the Construction Manager, Allen, and the Construction Site Supervisor, Justin, greeted us.
Rebecca and Caitlin hadn’t been there in awhile and they were excited to see how much progress had been made since their last visit. Caitlin shared that one of the reasons she felt so excited was because her sister is a single working mother who is planning to apply for a house next year. Every time Caitlin sees a Habitat house that is almost finished, she pictures her sister and nephew living in a new Habitat house.
Allen took us on a tour of the house and by the time we were finished, I was hoping that I will get to meet and interview the family that moves in here. It has to be exciting to have a brand new 3-bedroom house with 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a dining room. I was surprised to see that the downstairs bathroom has a shower and the upstairs bathroom has a bathtub. This family won't be banging on the bathroom door inquiring, "What's taking so long?"
Another surprise in this house is the closets. There's a long storage closet the size of a bowling alley. In the bedrooms there are "closets within closets." It’s a child’s hide and seek fantasy.
548 Kern
After we finished admiring 544 Kern Street, Allen took us next door to 548 Kern. This house is in a much earlier construction state and you have to climb through the window to get inside the house. Allen hopped right in, but we decided to just peek in.
Allen explained that the volunteers work on the first floor and he hires professionals to work on the second floor and the roof. The insulation is donated for free by Dow Chemical. Alan proudly explained that while some builders only meet the minimum building code requirements, these Habitat houses exceed all requirements.
It takes about 140 working days to build a house. Ideally, they usually cap a working crew at 15 people but can have up to 30. There are two ways to be part of a build – you can volunteer on your own through the Volunteer Coordinator or you can be part of Team Habitat through your workplace.
Many volunteers learn building and home maintenance skills at Habitat. Allen teaches about 100 people a year how to hammer. Allen's Tip: most people start hammering lightly just before the nail goes in. Actually, you are supposed to do the reverse. It should take three strikes to hammer a nail.
As we said good-bye to Allen, I was already thinking that I would be back!
