W&M, Community Partner to Build a House

By Desiree Parker Monday, March 29, 2010

There is an elderly woman living in a single-wide trailer in James City County that’s falling down around her ears.

With no money to fix the aging trailer home, this great-grandma could very well end up with no home at all, if it weren’t for Housing Partnerships and some generous and productive students and staff at the College of William and Mary.

They’re building her a new home, smack-dab in the middle of Jamestown Field on campus.

Housing Partnerships, a local non-profit that fixes homes for low-income families or builds homes for those whose homes are beyond repair, decided to team up with the college’s community engagement department for this project to get students involved and to get the non-profit’s name out there, according to Housing Partnerships Executive Director Abbitt Woodall.

“This is a great to give us visibility to show that there are people in town who really need help,” Woodall says. “They need a safe, decent place to live. Also, this year is our 25th anniversary, and some people don’t even know who we are.”

The organization needs volunteers, and the college is rife with students and staff who want to help – many who already volunteer with Housing Partnerships.

The plan is to give students a chance to participate in building a home and let the community know what Housing Partnerships is all about by building this 500-square-foot home in the middle of Jamestown Field.

On Thursday afternoon, a handful of folks were working on the home, which already has a nearly complete frame.

Foreman Harlan Schone, a retired William and Mary physics professor who has volunteered with Housing Partnerships for 25 years, is the volunteer in charge of the project site.

Yelling over the saws and hammers and general construction site noise, Schone said, “It’s fun! That’s why I do it. It’s a good feeling.”

Construction began last Thursday, and by Monday the roofing will begin. It happens pretty fast, Schone said – and all with volunteers who are not in the construction business.

It’s not too hard a project, he explained, just a rectangle with a few windows and a door. But it will mean a house for a woman who had no way to maintain her current home.

According to Woodall, the project will only cost about $35,000, and will be done by April 24. All the construction will be completed at the college site, and then the home will be moved to the woman’s property when it’s ready to be hooked up to power and water.

Working with other Housing Partnership volunteers on the site Thursday were a few staff members from the Anthropology Department, busy nailing things together. Also, freshman Tim Koning was on hand moving a big piece of plywood.

In high school, Koning said, his youth group went on some service missions and he’d done projects very similar to this. He’s joining the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, and community service hours are part of the deal, which Koning likes just fine, he said.

“I tried to sign up last week,” he said about the Housing Partnerships project, “but the slots were full.”

The plan to engage students seems to be working, with about 10 students volunteering every day, according to Schone.

"Our aim is three-fold: first to build a warm, safe and dry home for a resident of our community, second to generate awareness of the housing needs of some of our neighbors and finally to involve students, faculty, alumni and community members in a meaningful project," said Drew Stelljes, director of William & Mary’s Office of Community Engagement and Scholarship.

"It is wonderful to witness students and community members working on a house together in order to improve the lives of our neighbors. We fully expect this project to become an annual event. Together we will raise a house each spring and build a home for our neighbor."

Stelljes said interest has been huge, with the phone "ringing non-stop."

Over the past 25 years, Housing Partnerships has done more than 1,700 home repairs and provided 55 homeownership opportunities to locals in need. About 25,000 volunteers have offered 170,000 hours of their time.

Woodall says Housing Partnerships is always in need of volunteers – not just at the William and Mary site, but for all their projects. To volunteer at the site, just stop by between noon and 5 p.m. Visit their Facebook page to see pictures of how the work is progressing.