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Highlands Today

Nomads Build Homes For Habitat

KATHY WATERS/HIGHLANDS TODAY

John Boyden of Windham, Maine works on the windows of Habitat for Humanity home on Tuesday in Placid Lakes. Boyden and the RV Care-A-Vanners travel throughout the United States and volunteer building Habit for Humanity homes.

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By Bill Rettew Jr. | Highlands Today

Published: January 9, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Nobody would have known from a distance that Habitat for Humanity volunteer John Boyden from Windham, Maine, was working hard in the midday sun with a splint on his thumb.

Boyden had earlier pounded his thumb with a hammer and broken the finger nail. He said, with a grin, that the splint was only a precautionary measure, but was needed since he tended to hammer the thumb again and again.

Boyden is one of more than two dozen nomadic RVers or CARE-A-Vanners who are visiting Highlands
County for two weeks, while building homes with the local Habit for Humanity.

Volunteers spend about two weeks here, pay $10 per night per camper to stay at Camp Cloverleaf in Lake Placid, and generally pay their own expenses.

Nadia Hoffman, of Highlands County Habitat for Humanity, said about 100 CARE-A-Vanners visit the county annually from November through March.

"It's amazing, they get to meet people from all over and learn about different parts of the country," said Hoffman.

Bud Preuss, group leader and CARE-A-Van volunteer from Minnesota, said he has no permanent home, but lives in a recreation vehicle year-round.

Preuss spends 70 percent of the year volunteering for Habitat, and is one of 1,300 active volunteers or "affiliates" nationwide. The Lake Placid home is the 14th "build" of the year for Preuss.

"We all come from different backgrounds and we're all from different parts of the country," said Preuss. "We have two things in common — we love to volunteer and to serve the community."

Since 1990, Highlands County Habitat for Humanity built 108 homes, and typically, eight to 12 individual residences are under construction.

With a goal to build 22 homes a year, low-income residents are able to purchase a home for about $62,000, with an interest free mortgage after spending 400 hours building "sweat equity" while working alongside volunteers.

More than two dozen affiliates and a handful of locals were pounding nails, working on the home's roof and preparing a siderail for vinyl and stucco siding at Boston Way, in Placid Lakes, on Tuesday.

What was only a cement slab and vacant lot less than two weeks ago, would be a nearly completed house by week's end.

Seventy three-year-old Floyd Whiting, of Newark, Vt., worked on five builds last year and enjoys helping others.

"It's almost unbelievable that we build houses so quickly," said Whiting. "I can do something for somebody else. We're helping other people out. I'm pretty active and have to keep moving."

Steve Cooper is camp director at Camp Cloverleaf where the RVers usually stay. They have run of the 4-H camp, including use of boats and dock on Lake Francis.

The RVers stay to themselves and are a boon to the 4-H camp during the "off-season," said Cooper.

CARE-A-Vanners work from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. often spend evenings together while traveling on the weekends.

The campers share potluck dinners and spend some evenings together.

"They're very friendly and sociable," said Cooper. "There are no complaints and they're appreciative."

The Habitat affiliates even patched up a cooking grill and donated a clothes dryer for the 4–H campers, with their own time and money.

Anna Staples, of Ontario, was enjoying the Florida sunshine on her first Habitat build.

She referred to herself as "go-fer" and said she helped out with whatever tasks she was able.

"We're looking for something purposeful and meaningful," said Staples. "It's all for a good cause and to help someone with a hand-up in life.

"But we have fun. There's great camaraderie and a lot of fellowship."

Preuss said that everyone makes a contribution.

"We build like we want to live in it," said Bowden. "They're built with every bit of love and care like we would with our own homes."

Like Boyden and Habitat organizer President Jimmy Carter, many CARE–A –Vanners are Christians.

"It's better to give than receive," said Boyden, who then quoted Scripture. "What you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me."

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