Habitat for Humanity East Bay

2011 Earth Day Build-A-Thon

Now that the saw dust has settled from the four days of building it's impressive to see the results.  The homes seemed to spring up before your very eyes.  Today, where a construction site with piles of lumber once sat, seven fully framed houses now stand for seven hard working families.

This was no small feat.  The energy during the event was palpable.  It took more than 500 participants, or 4,000 participant hours logged during the course of the event to create this new community.  What Habitat East Bay is normally accomplished in nine months, was accomplished in just four days.

According to Construction Site Manager, Ben Grubb, "This year's Earth Day Build-A-Thon was the most successful ever. We got further along in the building process for these homes than ever before.  I think that this was attributable to many things.  Certainly having an abundance of skilled builders on site helped a lot."

Of note also, was the more than 50 AmeriCorps members and former AmeriCorps members that participated in the build. This figure puts into perspective the importance of the AmeriCorps program, that is in current danger of losing funding as a result of federal budget cuts.  During the event, the message to help save the AmeriCorps program was a constant theme, and after the event was complete it was clear what was at stake if this funding was cut.

Habitat East Bay would like to thank all of the participants who poured their energy and sweat into framing these homes, their supporters who helped purchase all of the lumber used and our sponsors for supporting our efforts.