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Habitat for Humanity Volunteers
by J Ting
On March 10, CCC members have offered many hours of community services in
response to the call for volunteers from the Habitat for Humanity (HfH),
International. It was a great opportunities for our organization to engage
in worthwhile activities to show our enthusiasm in other communities and
our goodwill to the needy people.
HfH is a non-profit, interfaith housing partnership dedicated to providing
simple, decent and affordable housing for families. Currently, there are 48
HfH affiliates in New York States and about seven chapters in the Capital
Region including one in Albany County and another one in Rensselaer County.
HfH can and will use volunteers from all walks of life and donations of many
sorts. HfH houses are built with financial contributions from various
communities and with labor (human resources) provided by volunteers like the
CCC members. These houses are then sold to individuals in need of decent
housing after these individuals have performed 350 hours of "sweat equity"
in an HfH project. In many cases, the cost of the house is less than what
the people pay in rent.
The CCC members, who volunteered at the 3/10/01 event, were as follows: WH Pang,
TT Wang, PS Zhao, S Li, M Chen, HM Chen, S Sung, JT Sung, J Ting & W Ting.
They worked on 198 3rd Street, Arbor Hills, Albany.
In general, the work was fun. Some members worked on the task in removing
the poor caulking materials and replacing with new ones. While others spent
their morning or afternoon to frame the windows & doors with
properly-coordinated moldings as well as to set the nails in preparation
for more caulking. When final caulking was completed, the painters brushed
through the first coating of paint on the moldings for windows & doors.
Those who would want to learn more craftsmanship spent their time in the
installation of kitchen cabinets and vanity sets for the bathrooms.
The volunteers worked approximately 4-7 hours on various tasks assigned to
them by the HfH crew leader. When they were done, the house looked great.
One volunteers said "We had fun and learned a few things." She added that
the other HfH volunteers were so patient, pleasant and thus made the work
very enjoyable. It was basically a fun day and we did something to help
someone else. It is reminded that the volunteers had worked together to
achieve a goal and that many with diverse interests were able to cooperate
in any type of activities provided to them.
If you wish to learn more about HfH activities, contact J. Ting.
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