Habitat For Humanity Build #19: Oneonta, New York

''I don't ever say a final goodbye. I just say, ''I'll see you down the road.'' And I do.'' 

Although I have yet to see the movie ''Nomadland'', I love this quote from the movie that someone shared with me. It reminds me of the many wonderful people that we have met during our travels. Cindy and Tim are two of those wonderful people, and when their email ''invitation'' arrived, we could not refuse the offer. They were leading a Habitat for Humanity build in upstate New York at the end of September and hoped that we could join them.

A chance to see the autumn colors in the northeast AND hang out with wonderful people AND assist in the construction of affordable housing for those in need?

Count us in!!!

We loved our time in Canada, but with the threat of cooler temps arriving soon, it was good to have Habitat for Humanity Care-a-Vanner build lure us back into the United States. We met Cindy and Tim during our first Habitat build back in 2016 and have always enjoyed when we get to ''see them down the road''. They are kind and knowledgeable leaders, and one can't help but have fun when they are around!

The Habitat for Humanity of Otsego County is a mostly all-volunteer affiliate located in Oneonta, New York. Only the part-time construction supervisor is paid a minimal salary. All the other volunteers put in countless hours to promote affordable housing in their community. The small town is located about 25 miles from Cooperstown (ie: Baseball Hall of Fame) in the northern part of the Appalachian Mountain range. The city has a population of 14,000 people, of which 30% live on incomes below the poverty line. Having two universities in town further drives up the cost of rental housing making Habitat homes an important option for low income families.

Future home owner, Nick worked alongside the local volunteers on the house that he hopes to make his home in about a year. This affiliate builds one house a year, and future home owners need to put in 300 hours of ''sweat equity'' as well as attend home-ownership classes, and secure a loan in order to make their dream a reality.

From the moment we arrived, we were warmly welcomed and supported by the local volunteers. A nice campsite, a welcome dinner, sandwich lunches, an ice cream social, and free tickets to the Baseball Hall of Fame were just a few of the ways that they ''spoiled'' us. In return, the affiliate hoped that we could help them get a jump start on the dry-walling of the house that is currently under construction. So on Monday, our Care-a-Vanner team quickly got to work.

There were cracks to be sealed up with spray foam ...

that somehow ended up in my hair as well. 

The crew then started in on the ceilings ... 

... taking care not to forget to cut out the light fixtures.

Diane and Tom demonstrated the art of working together

that comes naturally after fifty-six years of marriage, 

...and we applied those lessons when

putting up some of the more tricky pieces.

 

The lean, mean, dry-walling machine

was moving right along,

... with Cindy not far behind making sure

sure that each piece was securely screwed in.

 

But the job wasn't declared ''good'' until it passed the inspection of the ''click chick''... which happened to be me. My job was to make sure that the screws were securely attached and flush with the drywall ... a task that involved numerous trips up and down this ladder. 

During our week in Oneonta, we were not just seeing the love in some of the beautiful rocks on the job site, but we were feeling the love from the local Habitat volunteers.

Local volunteers cheered us on while delivering delicious sandwich lunches.

Tom, the part-time site supervisor, gave us his full-time attention that week and shared with us a life-time of construction knowledge.

At the end of our week together, we not only helped get this house closer to completion, but we also met so many new friends ... friends with whom we won't need to say good-bye, but rather ...

I'll See You Down The Road!

 

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