Photo By Jennifer Brofer | A 1st Maintenance Battalion Marine helps build a wall frame while volunteering for...... read more read more
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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. — Sweltering temperatures of 90-plus degrees wasn't enough to keep 400 Camp Pendleton-based Marines and sailors from 1st Maintenance Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group from volunteering to build homes for Habitat for Humanity Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that builds homes for families in need through volunteer labor and donations. The Marines and sailors volunteered to dig ditches for irrigation and sewer lines, frame walls, install windows and plant grass, flowers and trees in a neighborhood park.
"I enjoy doing manual labor, which I don't get to do enough of because I work in an office," said Lance Cpl. Dan Atizol, Motor Transport operator with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Maintenance Bn., 1st MLG.
"I love manual labor with a passion, actually," added Atizol without a drop of sarcasm. "It's fun, plus I get to help out the community," said Atizol, 23, from Niantic, Conn.
While digging ditches and hauling wheelbarrows full of foul-smelling top soil may constitute as "fun" to some, other long-time volunteers with Habitat for Humanity were just appreciative of the Marines for doing some of the back-breaking dirty work.
"It's great to have young people out here who can dig," said Scott Bainbridge, site superintendent with Habitat for Humanity's San Juan Capistrano project. Bainbridge added that plumbing and electrical work, which requires a lot of digging, always slows down many of the older volunteers.
"These guys work!" exclaimed Dave Solt, 62, chair of the Housing Commission for San Juan Capistrano, and crew leader for Habitat for Humanity's San Juan Capistrano project. "This soil is extremely hard ... but you take these 20-something Marines with a pick-axe in their hand, and they can do what we can't, and they can do it in a quarter of the time."
Contrary to popular belief, Habitat for Humanity doesn't simply "give away" homes to people in need. Eligible families must be "credit-worthy" and agree to partner with Habitat for Humanity and complete up to 500 "sweaty-equity" hours, and homes are mortgaged for anywhere between $230,000-$250,000, said Jaymie Fisher, volunteer services manager with Habitat for Humanity of Orange County.
"Our motto is 'It's a hand-up, not a hand out,' and it truly is," said Fisher, 37, from Irvine, Calif. "It gives them a chance to get into a home. Their mortgage payment stays the same — it never goes up — and it's thirty percent of their income. It's affordable, so it allows them to save money at the same time."
Many of the homes the Marines and sailors are helping to build — at least 14 out of the 27 — are going to disabled veterans and spouses of veterans killed in action, according to Fisher.
A sign posted on the wall showed a picture of one of the recipients of a Habitat for Humanity home. A Marine staff sergeant wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom with a 5-year-old son will be able to move into his new home by January 2010, said Fisher. Knowing they were not only helping out the community, but fellow service members, gave extra motivation to the volunteers.
"It's a really good feeling. It really means a lot to me to be able to come out and help out, even if it is just for a little bit," said Staff Sgt. Kate Cobb, communications chief for Headquarters and Service Co., 1st Maintenance Bn., 1st MLG.
Cobb, who volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in high school, helped lay PVC pipe for the water lines. And to her, every little bit of volunteer effort helps.
"Every little bit makes a difference, and it's only a couple hours a day," said Cobb, 26, from Mackinaw, Ill. "It really will help improve the lifestyle of some of these veterans."
To learn more about Habitat for Humanity, or to volunteer, visit www.habitat.org.
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 09.11.2009 20:20 |
| Story ID: | 38629 |
| Location: | SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, US |
| Web Views: | 238 |
| Downloads: | 196 |
This work, Marines volunteer to build homes for Habitat for Humanity, by Jennifer Brofer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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