Soldiers build for Habitat for Humanity

By STAFF SGT. DANNY MCCORMICK
U.S. Army Human Resources Command Public Affairs Office
More than fifty officers and civilians from U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Officer Personnel Management Directorate, Force Sustainment Division spent Friday morning helping build a home for Hardin County Habitat for Humanity.
Distribution manager, Lori Huff of the Officer Acquisition Management Branch, who lives in Vine Grove, was in charge of finding an October team-building event.
Through a different branch within OPMD Ms. Huff learned about the Habitat for Humanity Mega-build that was taking place in Elizabethtown. She believed it would be a great team-building event that would give back to the community. Other branches heard about it and wanted to join in as well.
After contacting Howard Gatlin, the Elizabethtown Habitat for Humanity SAE foreman, she made plans to have roughly 20 people come out and help build one of the three houses at the mega-build site.
Word quickly spread within the division and soon every branch had volunteers for the project.
“I had to come back to Mr. Howard and tell him that instead of about 20 people, because he said he would let us come out, but with no more than 20 people,” Ms. Huff said, “I said, ‘Howard—we have 53.’ I thought I was going to have to pick him up off the ground.”
The weather was cooperative, though slightly chilly, when the crew showed up at the site. They were divided into two groups. One group started clearing downed trees and brush while the other group climbed onto the foundation of a house and started framing walls.
Within a couple hours, two sides of the house had walls and it was beginning to look like the two other homes on the site that already had the exteriors completed. Most of the inside work, such as electrical wiring and plumbing is done by contractors. However, sweat equity hours are required of the people who will take possession of the homes.
“A single parent family has to put in 250 hours on their own home or someone else’s home,” said Bruce Singer, Project Coordinator for Hardin County Habitat for Humanity, “A double parent family has to put in 500 hours.”
Col. Brian Haebig, the Force Sustainment Division chief was working alongside the officers and civilians from the division.
“We’re here today to really help the community,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the entire division to get out and do something special. We have some really incredible craftsmen that are framing the house and we have a bunch of folks that are doing the hard labor of clearing the trail that was overcome by branches and fallen trees.”
“It usually takes five to six months to build one of these homes,” Mr. Singer said. “This has been a big shot in the arm for us. We were really beginning to wonder whether we would get the roof on before winter sets in and the snow starts falling.”
Lt. Col. David Hosna, the Acquisition Management Branch, branch chief summed his feelings for the project with three simple words.
“It’s fun stuff,” he said.

Photos by Staff. Sgt. Danny McCormick/Human Resources Command PAO

MAJ. MICHAEL FLEMING, CHECKED to see if the boards were square before he hammered nails into the frame of a wall.

RICK CARPENTER, THE DIVISION DEPUTY OF THE FORCE SUSTAINMENT DIVISION, hammered nails into the frame of a wall.

MAJ. GINGER WHITEHEAD OPERATED a weed trimmer as her contribution to a Hardin County Habit for Humanity house-build project.

SEVERAL OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS FROM U.S. ARMY HUMAN RESOURCES COMMAND, Officer Personnel Management Directorate worked with Green Peace and removed fallen trees and cleared brush from a Hardin County Habitat for Humanity build site in Elizabethtown, Friday.

SEVERAL OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS FROM U.S. ARMY HUMAN RESOURCES COMMAND, Officer Personnel Management Directorate came together Friday in a team-building event that would benefit some Elizabethtown, residents. Working with Hardin County Habitat for Humanity, more than 50 Army personnel split into groups. Some worked at building the frame of one of three houses located at a mega-build work site while others worked with Green Peace to remove fallen trees and clear brush from the building site.