On March 3rd, ten students, our staff adviser, and I took a long 12 hour drive to Cookeville, Tennessee. I was lucky enough to be the leader of this unforgettable Spring Break Trip. We arrived to smiling faces and the construction coordinator Bob who explained our schedule for the week. During this trip we worked with Putnam County Habitat for Humanity. We also had the pleasure to work with awesome students from Georgia. We stayed at a youth church building and we had a lot of fun!
On Monday we volunteered at an apartment complex where women who are recovering from substance addiction live. We all worked on various projects. Some people repainted a living room of an apartment while others fixed the gutters on the main house. We were also able to listen to the story of a woman recovering from an addiction. There is a part time worker who usually took care of these tasks, and he said that with our help we put him a month ahead of work. Our days started at 8:00 a.m. and usually ended around 4:30 p.m.
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From Left: Nina, Adam, Tim, Shawna, Le'Trice, Sharrell, Haley, Carly, Felicia, Devin,and Coley
Habitat for Humanity Spring Break 2013 |
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| Devin Bain '16 painting! |
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| Tyler and Nina posing for the camera! |
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| Adam Knatz and Gary! |
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| Holden, Chris, Tim, Chad, Adam, Shawna, Coley, and Devin :) |
On Tuesday we worked at the Putnam County Habitat for Humanity ReStore warehouse. On this day we moved one room warehouse items to the other side of the warehouse. This task took a lot of time and required teamwork! Some people also built a shelf to hold large ladders, and others built smaller shelves for tools. This experience was great because we were able to learn a lot of new skills!
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| Tyler with everything that we moved in the warehouse! |
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| Carly Fraher '14 and Felicia Owens '15 working hard! |
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| Sharrell '16 using the saw! |
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| Le'Trice '15 showing off the shelves she helped build! |
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| Carly, Haley, Sharrell, Adam, and Andrew :) |
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| Carly Fraher '14 and Haley Welby '14 :) |
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| Coley Genger '13, Tyler, and Bob! :) |
On Wednesday we had the pleasure of working in the ReStore again and we continued to build saw horses,shelves, and more! Again, many people, including myself, learned how to use many different power tools. We were also able to learn a lot about this aspect of Habitat for Humanity. Although these days were long and at times tiring, we had a blast doing all of this work!
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| Andrew and I built this! |
Thursday was our free day, and we took a day trip to Nashville! We ate delicious food at Jack's Barbeque! Then we explored the town and went shopping! The weather was lovely, and we had a lot of fun exploring this city and listening to country music! :)
Friday we were able to work on the house! We had the honor to meet the mother of the family we were building the home for. We started putting insulation in the basement and then we built the floor! When we finished the floor we walked all over it and we signed our names on the floor with a quote. This was a day that I will never forget. Team work was essential, and knowing who we were building for was inspiring!
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| Beginning of the day |
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| Tim Salis '15 |
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| Holden, Chris, and Alex :) |
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| Spring Break 2013! |
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| We finished the floor!! |
Saturday we were headed back to Coe and no one wanted to leave Tennessee! We developed friendships and memories that will last forever. We all took the Collegiate Challenge this Spring Break and we made a difference! We all went able to contribute our personalities and work ethic, but the people we met and the experiences we had offered a lot to us. Thank you to Putnam County, the men from Georgia, and everyone who helped us grow on this trip!
