On Saturday, August 28th, 2010, 10 NAAAP volunteers participated in the Habitat for Humanity event in Peabody, MA. Habitat for Humanity, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building simple low-cost homes by forming partnerships with low-income families using volunteer labor, donated materials, wherever possible to renovate old houses or build new, inexpensive homes which are sold to families at cost with no profit and no interest.
At last November's Habitat for Humanity event, NAAAP volunteers were part of the demolition phase; taking down walls, removing wires and pipes. We revisited the same house this time and volunteers from last November were able to see the transformation of the house almost a year later. The morning started with the organizers giving a brief introduction to Habitat for Humanity and the Peabody build project. Volunteers then started with moving 30 2x4 planks up to the 3rd floor of the 2 family home. Afterwards volunteers split up to tackle different projects around the house including: putting siding on the front of the house, putting up the porch overhang on the side of the house, putting up walls on the 3rd floor of the house, and doing demolition cutting off one side of their 2nd build house across the street. At around noon time, all the volunteers enjoyed a nice lunch provided by the First Baptist Church of Malden. After lunch volunteers swapped tasks to be able to experience different parts of the build. At around 2:30, work stopped and everyone cleaned up before ending the day of hard work.
Overall the volunteers enjoyed the warm day in the sun and helping to build a house for those that couldn't normally afford it. After the event, some volunteers went to a local ice cream shop to cool off and socialize more. Thanks again to all the volunteers for their time and hard work.
