By By Kerry Whipple Bean – publisher
One house, eight days.
That's the “mission possible” that Habitat for Humanity's Brewton chapter has given itself for the first week of March.
That means the house will be framed March 1 and be ready to turn over to the new owners by the following Saturday, Habitat for Humanity Director Alecia Glaize said.
And those folks have confidence in themselves. They asked Glaize last week, “What if we finish by Wednesday?”
Volunteers are welcome for the event - even if they have no previous building experience - but registration is encouraged, so that Habitat will know how many T-shirts and meals to provide each day, Glaize said.
Several groups have already stepped up to give their time, including students in shop classes at W.S. Neal High School and 15 students from Weidner University in Pennsylvania, who have chosen to take their spring break in Brewton for the project.
Habitat is also encouraging local businesses to “donate” their employees for a day or so during the week.
Weyerhauser did just that for a Habitat project last summer, Glaize said, and the presence of those workers was a big help with the houses.
Evening volunteer times will also be available. The building coordinators are finalizing the schedule, Glaize said.
This is not Habitat's first opportunity to build a house quickly. Last summer, the group built two houses in a month, and two years ago they welcomed out-of-town Habitat volunteers to help build two houses in a weekend.
But this is the first time a mostly local volunteer group will build an entire house - start to finish - in just one week.
Glaize credits a growing enthusiasm for Habitat for the growing number of challenges.
Since then, local Habitat volunteers have built houses not only in Brewton but also helped volunteer in Ohio and in Troy.