Habitat for Humanity has the perfect activity for anyone who would like to do something different and help others at the same time: build a home.
More volunteers are needed to help at the site of the group’s latest project on Big Sky Road near Legend Lake in the town of Menominee.
“If you can help two or three hours a day, that’s fine,” said Mark Flunker, executive director and site manager.
The volunteer workers make homes possible for people who otherwise couldn’t afford their own home. The volunteers work on the build on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday for about six hours each day.
The homeowners, in this case — Jason Chapman and Cherissa Boyd, are required to put in 350 hours of their time; another 150 can be done by other family members.
Steve Thompson, a retired teacher who taught 30 years at the Menominee Middle School in Neopit, has been volunteering for 17 years.
“I just enjoy the physical labor,” Thompson said. “I’ve seen the results of Habitat work. I agree with their philosophy.”
The build began on May 20, and the walls were poured on July 1.
“We would like to be done in six months,” Flunker said, adding the timetable depends a lot on the volunteers.
Flunker said more volunteers make the build much easier. He said retired people who have a good work ethic are invaluable.
The current project will be a four-bedroom, one-story home with bedrooms in the basement.
“It’s cheaper to build a single-story home with a basement than a two-story,” Flunker said. “And it’s easier for volunteers to work on.”
He said some builders help out by showing the volunteers how to do certain things.
“A lot of people want to learn how to do things themselves and this is a good way to learn,” Flunker said.
This is the thirteenth build in Shawano and Menominee counties. Flunker said owners of one of the first houses built by Habitat recently paid off the mortgage and had a mortgage-burning party.
“We call it a hand up, not a handout,” Flunker said.
Habitat works with the families if they can’t pay the mortgage and will extend their loans, but he said so far everything has gone very smoothly. The loan repayments, along with other donations and sales from the Habitat Store, 320 E. Richmond St., pay for the homes.
Habitat recently purchased the former parsonage at Zion Lutheran Church in Shawano for $1 and will move it to Prospect Street in early August for its next project. Applications are being accepted at the Habitat store in Shawano. The home will be renovated after it is moved.
“We’d like to have someone ready for it before we start working on it,” Flunker said.
Habitat also has land in the Gresham and Cecil areas for possible future builds.
“We’d like to get farther out in Shawano County,” Flunker said.
For information or an application, go to the store on the corner of Richmond and Lincoln in Shawano, or call 715-524-3007.
