Welcome to Rusty’s Blog. I’m Rusty and I’ll tell you about the day-to-day construction activities of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry that provides affordable housing to hard-working, limited-income families. New homes are built by volunteers who donate their time, money and materials. Each completed home is then sold to a qualifying family at no profit and financed with a no interest home mortgage.
Our main construction focus for 2008 will be Phase II in our Hope Crossing development. Phase II is 60 houses of the 230 planned for the area. So far, 30 houses are finished and occupied in Hope Crossing. If you get a chance, take a look for yourself at the "Where We Are Building" page. Hope Crossing is west of Kelley Avenue on NE 83rd Street.
August 9, 2008
We’ve had a routine week with our First Presbyterian and Lowe’s blitz houses under construction taking most of our time and volunteers during the week.
Today we have groups from IBC Bank and the NW Expressway Campus of Life Church with us as well as folks from Lowe’s and First Presbyterian working on their houses. Our IBC volunteers landscaped with Lowe’s volunteers on Erin and Janine’s houses. Life Church volunteers framed Regina’s house at Hope Crossing. Thanks to Jencie at IBC and Pastor Jim at Life Church for arranging to have their groups volunteer with us. Thanks to all volunteers who were with us today. We accomplished all of our goals. It’s been a great day. It was good to have the sod down before the 4+ inch rain that hit on Monday!
If you would like to volunteer, please call Steve at the Habitat office. The number is 232-4828. We have room for individuals most days Tuesday through Saturday. Hours for the summer are 8 AM until 2 PM with an hour off for lunch. We’ll start our regular hours after Labor Day which will be 9 AM until 3 PM with an hour off for lunch.
August 2, 2008
Another busy day as work progresses on three Blitz Builds. We’re painting on the Lowe’s house, landscaping the Tinker house and painting on First Presbyterian house. In addition to that we have a group from the Ismaili Community Center putting the finishing touches on a house in Hope Crossing. Thanks to everyone for enduring the heat and their hard work.
We have a special volunteer with us today. Arthur is a retired trim carpenter who is living with the affects of a stroke. He is wheelchair bound. He was with us this morning for a few hours before the full force of the heat hit us. He worked with John from our staff at the Tinker house installing doorknobs. Thanks Arthur!
July 31, 2008
Today we host a group from Tinkers 33rd Combat Communication Squadron. This is a nice sized group of 20 willing and able volunteers. We split the group and part went to help on First Presbyterian’s Blitz house and the rest stayed at Hope Crossing. Another scorcher of a day. We appreciate everyone’s commitment and hard work.
July 29, 2008
Work continues today on the Tinker and First Presbyterian houses. Volunteers and staff installed doors and trim and started painting the Tinker house and in Edmond, they worked on ceiling joists and cornice.
July 26, 2008
We are starting another Blitz Build today. In addition to Tinker and Lowe’s, we have First Presbyterian Church of Edmond building a house in Edmond. This is our first house construction project in Edmond. The folks from First Presbyterian started at 7:00 AM and had the walls standing and the corners squared, plumbed and sheathed by lunch time. After lunch they applied the blue board completing the sheathing of their house.
At Hope Crossing, we have TJ, JRod and Janet from KJ103 and a group of their listeners volunteering, a group from IBC Bank, as well as a group from Life Church. The heat was brutal by all of our volunteers worked hard and accomplished everything we hoped to get done today.
Thanks to all for their dedication to our cause.July 24, 2008
Today we have a group from the Metro GAP stores, Tinker, Lowe’s and a family from Yukon volunteering with us. Tinker is drywalling their house, Lowe’s is decking their house and the other volunteers are filling in where needed. We appreciate you all. Thank you for helping fight poverty housing in OKC.
July 19, 2008
Lowe’s Inc is starting their blitz build with us today. In addition to providing all of the volunteers for this house, Lowe’s has given us $50,000 towards the construction cost. Partnering with Lowe’s on this build is the Rebuilding Together group. This build is generating a great deal of interest with the employees of all the Metro stores. There were 45 signed up to volunteer and 65 showed up.
Tinker had a good group working on their house and the PA class of ’09 from OU Health Sciences Center volunteered as well. In spite of the heat, much work was completed.
July 17, 18 & 19
For these three days we have a group from Sessions ’08 which is a conference in Edmond that brings together Christian Church, Disciples of Christ members for all over the country.
The main focus of this group will be to frame Annette’s house in Hope Crossing. We thank them all for their enthusiasm and hard work. The heat has wilted some of our volunteers this week. We thank them all for their persistence and dedication.
July 15, 2008
Our long awaited Tinker Build starts today. We’ll have men and women from the Air Force and Navy stationed at Tinker Field to build a house for John and Anthanetta. John is a navy veteran of the Vietnam War. It’s heartwarming to see the family and the folks from Tinker bond easily and quickly. We had wonderful press coverage and John spent over two hours this morning talking to television and print media reporters. The house is in the Mulligan Flats area of OKC between Pennsylvania Avenue and Villa Avenue about 6 blocks north of Reno. Mulligan Flats is one of the oldest neighborhoods in OKC.
Today the walls went up, the corners were plumbed, squared and sheathed as well as the rest of the sheathing completed. It was another warm and very humid day. Our thanks to all who participated.
We thank Pastor John from John and Anthanetta’s church for his help today and thank you for the tables, treats and Gatorade. Lunch was provided by Johnny Carino’s Italian Grill. The food was great! We thank them for their support.
July 12, 2008
We have four groups volunteering with us today. Groups from Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates are working with folks from St John’s Missionary Baptist church framing Tamika’s house at Hope Crossing. A group from IBC Bank is painting and cleaning and a group named Extended Hands from Peope’s Church are filling in where needed. It’s July and it’s warm. We thank everyone who worked with us today. We’re hearing more and more compliments from people who were in Hope Crossing last year or even early this year say how good the development looks. There’s a new park and new homes are being built that will eventually circle it.
July 10, 2008
Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma (DLO) is volunteering with us today. This is a large group of about 35 people. They stood the walls on Charles’s house and helped with cleaning and organizing our on-site storage units. We use our larger groups of volunteers to frame, drywall, paint, or landscape. We find that this is our best use of their talents.
July 9, 2008
We have a group of managers from the Circuit City stores in the OKC Metro volunteering with us today. They decked Sheritha and Rickey’s house and worked on building the cornice. Today’s afternoon rain dampened things but we’ll be back at it tomorrow
July 3, 2008
Today we have a group of volunteers from Gap / Old Navy / Banana Republic Stores. They worked on landscaping Erin’s house. Thanks to all for the good work.
July 1, 2008
Joining us today are volunteers from the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz. They started to frame Ricky and Sheritha’s house out at Hope Crossing.
June 28, 2008
Working with us today are groups from L-3 Communications, International Pentecostal Assembly, and Life Church. Volunteers from L-3 sheetrocked Demetrice’s house, volunteers from Life Church framed Charles’s house and volunteers from IPA helped with drywalling and did some touch-up painting on a couple of houses. This morning’s rain kept us from doing a couple of landscaping jobs that we need to get done soon.
June 24, 2008
With us this week are a group from St. Andrews United Methodist Church from South OKC. The members of this group will be with us each day through Friday. We’ll have a number of individuals with us this week, but St. Andrew’s will be the only group. Group members did a variety of tasks. They painted and drywalled for us.
Tuesday June 17, 2008
With us this week are a group from Mayfair Church of Christ. The members of this group will be with us each day through Friday. We have individuals and groups with us nearly every day. The folks from Carmax are also with us today and Friday. We have an enthusiastic bunch today.
Saturday June 14, 2008
We have several groups with us today and a number of individuals. The 72nd Medical Squadron from Tinker and a group from the Alliance of Emerging Professional’s (AEP) are here decking the roof of Demetrice’s house. A group from St. Elijah’s Antiochian Church helped by landscaping. Individuals helped fill out the crews decking and landscaping
Tuesday June 10, 2008
Joining us today are a group from Quad Graphics and several individuals. We’ll have a good number of volunteers each day this week.
It’s with great sadness that we learned today of the death of one of our most recent homeowners, Chrishanda Stripling. Her house in Hope Crossing was dedicated on April 22, 2008. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her Son, Mom and Dad and Siblings.
Saturday June 7, 2008
Home Builders Blitz 2008 wraps up today with the dedication of the six houses that were built over the last week. We welcome home Nicole, Shirley, Kim, Kiwanna, Shareece, and Devin and their families. A good crowd was in attendance for the traditional ceremony of prayer, gifts and hospitality. Each builder was on hand and each took a few minutes to recognize their subcontractors and to say a little about their experience building a LEED rated house in a week. Also at the ceremony were pastors Carl Siler and Calvin Conner who offered the House Blessing and House Prayer. Dan Ellis from ClimateMaster, who is providing their geothermal heating and cooling systems for all 200+ houses in Hope Crossing, led the litany. A standard at each dedication is the gift of a Bible. Ann Felton, our CEO and Chairman of the Board, always lets the homeowner know that she’ll have a new one for them when they wear this one out.
Entertaining us were the Matching Socks Quartet who sang the Star Spangled Banner at the opening of the ceremony and God Bless America and an Irish Blessing during the ceremony. Thanks Guys!
Also with us today are the normal full-house of volunteers. We have AT&T, Accord Human Resources and Tinker AFB as volunteers working on Erin’s house and Demetrice’s house
Since last Saturday, we’ve had approximately 1000 volunteers gifting Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity 6000 hours of their time, talent and treasure
Ideal Homes house
4 Corners house
O L Development house
Rausch Coleman Homes house
Home Creations house
Southcreek Construction house
Friday June 6, 2008
Today is a slower day at Hope Crossing. Details are being tended to and some of the fine points are happening. Flowers and shrubs are going in the ground and final cleaning and inspections are going on. All of the houses will be LEED certified. Congratulations to all of the builders. Job well done!
Thursday June 5, 2008
For the most part construction is over on the six Home Builders Blitz houses. There are punch list items to remedy and details to be attended to. Tonight the final houses will receive their sod. Again, most of this evening’s volunteers are from Hertz and Tinker Air Force Base. Volunteers finished in winds of around fifty miles per hour.
It has been a fascinating experience to see these houses being built. Last Saturday, five days ago, these houses were a bare slab of concrete and a detailed construction schedule. Our builders have worked long and hard to keep their houses on schedule. We salute you for your drive and determination and for your kindness to the Central Oklahoma community.
Wednesday June 4, 2008
Today interior work continues on the six Home Builders Blitz houses. Interior paint is going on, trim is starting to be applied and some cabinets are being installed. Each house differs in subtle ways from our regular houses. Some houses have closet organizers, some will have upgraded countertops, and others will have upgraded cabinets. This evening sod will be put down at two houses. Thanks to the folks from Hertz and Tinker for providing landscaping volunteers. Today’s weather is far from perfect weather for manual labor. It’s hot, humid and windy.
Tuesday June 3, 2008
Work continues on the Home Builders Blitz. Sheetrocking is the order of the day for most builders. At 11:00 AM an on site news conference commenced with Jonathan Reckford CEO of Habitat for Humanity International as keynote speaker. This is Mr. Reckford’s first trip to Oklahoma. Home Builders Blitz is simultaneously going on at 110 Habitat for Humanity affiliates around the country. In total, 263 houses will be built this week.
Monday June 2, 2008
With preliminary inspections complete, and the security systems partially installed, the houses were insulated. Hope Crossing houses are insulated with a spray on polyisocyanurate foam. This is the kind of insulation that sprays on and for a few seconds looks like paste. After a few seconds the insulation starts to expand and fill in the wall cavity. You may have seen this product used on “This Old House” or a program on HGTV. The walls are sprayed and the underside of the roof is sprayed. When finished, the interior of the house is sealed very well from the affects of heat and cold. Any place where air may infiltrate is caulked and sealed. Sheetrock is starting to be hung on some of the houses.
Sunday June 1, 2008
Normally we don’t work on Sundays but today the professional builders were working to be sure they can be finished with their houses by Friday. Today the roofs were finished and some of the brickwork was started. Subcontractors are working on the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. Hope Crossing houses use state of the art geothermal heating and cooling systems. The systems are manufactured by Climate Master located in Oklahoma City.
Saturday May 31, 2008
A major project starts today at Hope Crossing. It’s Home Builders Blitz. Six construction companies from the Metro area will each build a house for us over the next 7 days. Working with us are Ideal Homes, Southcreek Construction, Home Creations, Rausch Coleman Homes, O L Development, and 4 Corners Construction. Dedication of these houses will be next Saturday June 7 at 10:00 AM.
Home Builders Blitz crews started with bare slabs of concrete early this morning and by 9 AM walls were standing. By early afternoon rafters were built and decking was started. By evening, some of the houses were shingled and had their windows and doors installed.
It is amazing how fast these houses were framed and roofed. Thanks to all involved.
We also have about 80 volunteers that are working on our houses and developing one of our park areas. We have Heartland Community Church landscaping Deittra’s house. We have Discipleship Church drywalling Zina’s house. We have Chaparral Energy working on Carolyn’s house and we have the singles group from Victory Church clearing the northeast corner of Hope Crossing to make our nature area
Special thanks to Chuck Gauntlett and his Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Men’s chainsaw crew for their work reducing all the deadfall into manageable pieces for Victory Church Singles. Chuck and his crew volunteer after natural disasters in Oklahoma and all the surrounding states. Some of the guys have gone as far as Florida to help out.
Starting this evening, we’ll have cleanup and landscaping crews every evening through Friday night. Thanks to Hertz and Tinker AFB for providing volunteers for cleanup, landscaping, hospitality and security. We will have volunteers on site, 24 hours a day, through Saturday June 7th at 10:00 AM.
The weather today was hot and windy. Our hospitality volunteers distributed about 1200 bottles of water to all of our volunteers. Thanks to Sonic and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma for providing water and to Pepsi for providing water and Pepsi products.
Saturday May 17, 2008
There are three groups with us today at Hope Crossing; Edmond Campus of Life Church, Sigmon Wealth Management and Chaparral Energy.
Life Church helped out at a number of houses. They landscaped, stripped forms, built rafters and painted. The folks from Sigmond painted the exterior trim on Zina’s house and the Chaparral Crew painted the interior of Carolyn’s house.
We had a number of individuals with us today as well. If you’d like to volunteer, give Steve a call at the Habitat office (232-4828). We save space for 10 individuals each day Tuesday through Saturday. Please call a day or two in advance of when you’d like to volunteer so that we can get you on our schedule.
Monday May 12, through Friday May 16, 2008
We have a special group with us this week. It’s Father Carl Gallinger from St. Pauls Newman Center at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Joining Father Carl this year is Campus Minister Cassie Miller and nine students. Father Carl has been making this trip to celebrate the end of the school for a number of years. As always they helped us a great deal and were a hard working, pleasant group. They spent Saturday touring Oklahoma City and cooling off at White Water Bay. We thank Jeni Scott for providing them with free tickets.
Joining us Thursday was Sally and her group from Lilly Pharmaceuticals. They worked on the three houses that will be dedicated next Friday and helped the other group hang drywall on a house on North Laird Avenue.
Saturday May 10, 2008
It’s nearly a perfect day out at the job site. Things are just-right. Beautiful weather and a group of great volunteers to finish all the tasks that are planned.
Leader Communications Inc. are a large group with us today framing Erin’s house, a Francis Tuttle Technology Center group is landscaping the Kimray house, Chaparral Energy is drywalling Carolyn’s house, and a group from Progressive Baptist Church is painting the interior of Stacye’s house. Thanks to all of our volunteers!
The dedication of the Kimray house today ends six very busy weeks on the construction sites. Since March 29th, we’ve started and completed 3 houses. We thank everyone who was a part of the success of the these Blitz Builds.
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I’ve included a few pictures of the drilling we do to be able to install our geothermal heating and cooling systems. From the Climate Master website: (climatemaster.com) The earth absorbs almost 50% of all solar energy and remains a nearly constant temperature of 50°F to 70°F depending on geographic location. Working with an underground loop system, a ClimateMaster geothermal unit utilizes this constant temperature to exchange energy between your home and the earth as needed for heating and cooling.
In winter, water circulating inside a sealed loop absorbs heat from the earth and carries it to the unit. Here it is compressed to a higher temperature and sent as warm air to your indoor system for distribution throughout your home.
In the summer, the system reverses and expels heat from your home to the cooler earth via the loop system. This heat exchange process is not only natural, but is a truly ingenious and highly efficient way to create a comfortable climate in your home
Friday May 9, 2008
We have a group of ladies from Lowe’s and Central Oklahoma Home Builders Women’s Council painting the interior of one of our houses at Hope Crossing today. These ladies are with us as part of National Women Build week organized by Habitat for Humanity International and sponsored by Lowe’s home improvement stores. In the decade since Habitat for Humanity International officially created the Women Build program, Thousands of women volunteers have built more than 1200 Women Build houses through their local affiliates. Approximately 150 affiliates are organizing a Women Build day during this week. Later this year, there will be a Women Build blitz.
Thursday May 8, 2008
We’re working on the finishing touches of 4 Hope Crossing houses. When completed, these houses will be number 8 through 11 for the year and number 471 through 474 in the history of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity. Today we welcomed volunteers from Dale Rogers Training Center, Bockus-Payne and Associates Architectural firm and Tinker AFB. Thanks to everyone who volunteered with us today. We have acres of mud out at Hope Crossing but we’re handling it as best we can. Looking forward to some sunshine and drying weather.
Saturday May 3, 2008
The Hudiburg house is finished and will be dedicated today. That house was framed on April 12th. What a difference three weeks can make on a blitz house. Three weeks ago this morning this house was a bare slab of concrete and a stack of framing materials. We thank all the people from Hudiburg for their support and hard work. Work continues today on a number of houses in Hope Crossing. We have two groups of Life Church volunteers from the Edmond and Northwest Expressway Campuses. We also have a group with us today from Messiah Ministries.
Tuesday April 29, 2008
Today we are hosting another group from Tinker AFB. We have nearly 20 volunteers from the 31st Combat Communications Squadron (CCS). We are most grateful for the support of all the men and women who volunteer with us from Tinker. On Friday we will have volunteers from the 965th Airborne Air Control Squadron (AACS) working with us.
Saturday April 26, 2008
Another busy Saturday at Hope Crossing. We have groups from Chaparral Energy, Real Church, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Hudiburg, Crown Heights United Methodist Church, Kimray, Edmond’s First Baptist Church, St John Missionary Baptist Church and a number of individuals today. Chaparral decked their house, Kimray painted the exterior of their house along with the group from Real Church, Hudiburg touched up paint and cleaned around their house, St John’s landscaped a house, Alpha Kappa Alpha worked on a recycle project and started to landscape a yard and Edmond’s First Baptist Church worked to plumb, square and sheath a house. Steve, our new logistics guy worked with a small group at the warehouse building framing components. You may think that with a number of groups we have pandemonium at Hope Crossing but today went well. Our volunteers accomplished a great deal today. Many thanks to all who were with us today.
Friday April 25, 2008
Some of the Sophomore Class from Bishop McGuiness High School are with us this morning. Recycling was todays task. We gather the leftover lumber from each frame job and sort out the usable 2X4’s and 2X6’s and use them in building corners, wall ties and framing for doors and windows for the next frame job. We save and use all pieces larger than two feet long.
Wednesday April 23, 2008
We have a large group of students from Oklahoma Christian Academy with us today. Thanks to Jessie Chambers for making the arrangements. This group helped to deck a roof and cleaned up several construction sites.
Saturday April 19, 2008
Today the Thrivent house is dedicated. A good crowd was on hand at 9:00 AM to welcome Michelle and her family home to Hope Crossing. From start to finish her house was completed in 3 weeks.
With one blitz ending we have another beginning. Kimray, Inc is sponsoring the funding and construction of a house in Hope Crossing. It will be completed in three weeks. Kimray is an Oklahoma City company that manufactures valves and controls for the oil and gas industry. Check them out at www.kimraycom. Thanks to the folks from Calvary Church of the Nazarene for joining the Kimray group to complete the wall framing today.
Chaparral Energy continues their construction of Carolyn’s house by building the rafters today. Groups from Nichols Hills United Methodist Church, Cashion High School and SERVE from the University of Central Oklahoma painted, cleaned up and did some finishing touches on several landscaping projects.
Thank you to all of our volunteers today. We could not accomplish our mission without you.
April 15-18, 2008
We’ve had a busy week at Hope Crossing. We’ve got the Hudiburg and the Thrivent Blitzes going on as well as construction on 8 conventional builds. Thanks to the folks volunteering from the Hudiburg Auto Dealerships working on the Hudiburg house and area Lutheran Churches working on the Thrivent house as well as groups from Tinker Air Force Base and Lexis Nexis. Phase II sure looks different with a few houses completed and the park landscaped and the playground equipment, backstop and fitness stations installed.
Saturday April 12, 2008
It looks like another huge day at Hope Crossing! We started Carolyn’s house yesterday and work continues today. Carolyn works at Chaparral Energy and her co-workers are building her house. The Thrivent Blitz continues with landscaping and the Hudiburg Blitz starts today with a large group framing Sheila’s house. Volunteers from the UCO Chemistry Club, OSBI, Coventry Health Care, Gamma Beta Phi and Tinker’s 552nd MXS also pitched in to paint, clean and landscape.
Thanks to Hillsdale Bible Baptist School group who worked with Mike on our house on the Southeast side and the group from Estes Park Church of Christ who worked with Harry at the warehouse.
Saturday April 5, 2008
We now have a park in Hope Crossing! Volunteers from Life Church, Northwest Expressway Campus and Crossings Community Church assembled and installed playground equipment and 10 workout stations in the park that will be named Brown Park. The park has been funded by the Brown Family and dedicated to honor their parents Col. William Ray Brown Sr. (USAF Ret) and Helen Lincoln Brown. Funding for trees in the park has been provided by the Margaret Annis Boys Trust. A dedication ceremony was held today at 11 am and presided over by Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity CEO and Chairman of the Board Ann Felton.
In addition to park construction, we have a full complement of volunteers. The Thrivent Blitz Build continues today with exterior painting. Groups from Oklahoma City University and the University of Central Oklahoma framed Zina’s house. She was very excited to see construction start on her house. Delta Tau Omega Service Club from Oklahoma Christian is with us painting and a large group representing the University of Oklahoma’s “Big Event” is landscaping two of our soon-to-be completed houses.
As best as I can tell, we have a total of about 160 people volunteering with us today.
Saturday March 29, 2008
Today is the beginning of our first Blitz Build of the year. During a Blitz Build, we complete a house in three weeks. It’s fun to watch a house built in such a short period of time. The sponsor of this house is Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Over the years, Thrivent has built houses locally in conjunction with area Lutheran Churches. Thrivent also build houses nationally, and internationally. Check them out at: thriventbuilds.com
The team of 35 Thrivent volunteers framed their house, sheathed the house with OSB and blue insulation board, wrapped the house, installed ceiling joists, and started building rafters. These volunteers set a new record for raising the walls and building the roof.
In addition to the Thrivent folks we had groups from Sprint, Pepsi, Tinker and a number of individuals painting, landscaping, and decking. It’s wonderful to have the support of all these volunteers!
Thanks to each of you.
Thursday March 27, 2008
Ninety volunteers are with us today. We have 72 Senior Class Students and Teachers from Mount Saint Mary’s High School, 8 USAF personnel from Tinker representing the 960th and the Air Traffic Controllers and 10 of our regulars. They landscaped, cleaned up, painted, wrapped two houses and backfilled a retaining wall at the entrance to Hope Crossing.
This week trees were planted and sod was rolled out onto our park between NE 84th Street, NE 85th Street and Laird Avenue at Hope Crossing. It looks great! Take a drive some day and check it out. I think you’ll be impressed.
Monday March 17, 2008 to Friday March 21, 2008
It’s spring break! That means Collegiate Challenge for Habitat for Humanity. Starting today we’ll have a group of 21 from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a group of 9 from the University of Texas at Arlington. These two groups will work with us until noon Friday. Joining us for part of the week is a group from Oklahoma Christian.
It’s wonderful to see the enthusiasm and dedication of our Collegiate Challenge volunteers. They work hard. They arrive early. They stay late. We have a variety of tasks that the groups will accomplish during the week. There’s painting, framing, clean-up, caulking, clearing trees in our park and landscaping.
Saturday March 15, 2008
Today groups from C.L. Frates, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, and nurses from the VA joined forces to frame a house in Hope Crossing. It’s interesting to see how folks from different groups join together and work together so well. Thanks to you all. We also hosted groups from Classen School of Advanced Studies, Pepsi, New Covenant Christian Church and a number of individuals that decked a roof, landscaped our Kenyon Drive house and worked in our warehouse building framing components. Good job everyone! Thanks for your help. If you’d like to volunteer, call Steve Musch at the office (232-4828) to get on the schedule. We could not do what we do without thousands of volunteers each year.
Tuesday March 11, 2008
A group of about 50 Best Buy store employees from Oklahoma City and Tulsa are joining us today. In addition to their contribution of construction labor, the Best Buy corporate office donates $1000 to our affiliate for each 40 hours of labor their employees contribute. Thanks to all concerned.
Saturday March 8, 2008
Three volunteer groups joined forces today to frame another Hope Crossing house. Thanks to Standard Aero, OU Health Science Center Pharmacy Students and Intergenetics for working together today to get Patricia’s house framed. It’s wonderful to see folks joining and working together for the common good. This makes six houses under construction in Hope Crossing. The plumbers and electricians have been working in most of the earlier houses and progress is seen every day. In addition to framers, group of 4-H members volunteered today and painted exterior trim on two Hope Crossing houses and a Tinker AFB group decked a roof today as well. Thanks to everyone who made today a great day at Hope Crossing
Wednesday - March 5, 2008 & Friday - March 7, 2008
We have two groups from Tinker AFB with us this week. On Wednesday the 752 CCS (Combat Communications Squadron) helped out at Hope Crossing and on Friday, a group from 964 AACS (Airborne Air Control Squadron) spend the day volunteering with us. We couldn’t do what we do without the tremendous support we have from many groups at Tinker Air Force Base
Saturday - March 1, 2008
A great day on the construction site today. We have two groups from the University of Central Oklahoma with us. The Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC), which is a group from the campus fraternities, sent about 75 volunteers to frame two houses and a group of International Students helped by painting exterior trim on two other houses. The Fraternity men were go-getters and had the houses framed, sheathed and some of the ceiling joists up by our 3:00 quitting time. There speed may have had something to do with the five cases of energy drink they started the morning with. Safe to say that a good time was had by all. You may have seen the feature on Fox News 25 that evening on the 9:00 news.
Tuesday - February 26, 2008
We have a group of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance Agents volunteering with us today. The wind made tasks difficult and this group mostly did cleanup which is a constant activity on the jobsite. Thanks to all who volunteered.
Saturday - February 23, 2008
Another house is framed at Hope Crossing. As of this evening we have three houses under construction in Hope Crossing. Thanks to our volunteers from Standard Aero and OU Housing and Food Service for framing and to Tinker Spouses for working at our Kenyon house. The house at Kenyon is nearly finished. I know that Edith is eager to close and move in.
Wednesday – February 20, 2008
Volunteers from long-time supporter First Christian Church are with us today working at Hope Crossing. Thanks for the help guys.
Saturday - February 16, 2008
Today was a rough day. We were able to hang drywall at Kenyon Drive, but the rain kept us from framing two more houses in Hope Crossing. Thanks to Jon and his students from Oklahoma City Community College for working with us on a cold, wet day.
Wednesday - February 13, 2008
We had two groups of volunteers today. The Outward Bound program and the Tinker AFB 552nd MOS/MXOOE provided folks who caulked and wrapped the houses we framed last Saturday. Thanks to everyone who made today a great day. We could not do what we do without thousands of wonderful volunteers each year.
Saturday - February 9, 2008
A beautiful day for Construction! Sunny, clear, calm and predictions of 60 degrees for the daytime high. Groups of volunteers today at Hope Crossing are from the Northwest Expressway LifeChurch.tv Campus, Marriott, and Dobson Metro Realty. 96 people volunteered with us today at Hope Crossing. By 3:00 this afternoon the two houses were framed, corners plumbed and sheathing for the outside walls was put up. There was also activity at the warehouse and at SE 49th Street. Thanks to all who worked with us today. Great job!
Friday - February 8, 2008
Volunteering with us today are High School students from Southwest Covenant School in Yukon. This large group of students helped with cleanup and prep work for tomorrow.
Thanks for all your help!
Thursday - February 7, 2008
Slabs were poured today at NE 84th Street in Hope Crossing. These will be the first two houses in Phase II of Hope Crossing. Aaron and the construction staff will prepare the slabs tomorrow for framing on Saturday by marking where walls will go, laying out the plates and color coding framing components.
Saturday - February 2, 2008
Volunteers landscaped at NE 83rd Street and caulked and painted at Kenyon Drive today. Out at Hope Crossing the groundhog saw its’ shadow. We sure hope he's mistaken about that six more weeks of winter!
Wednesday – January 30, 2008
The Construction Staff had CPR Training today that kept them off the construction sites.
Saturday – January 26, 2008
Saturday is our busy day. We have a group from the Wesley Foundation at Kenyon Drive painting, caulking and cleaning up and a group from Young Democrats at SE 49th Street doing the same.
Thursday – January 24, 2008
Today volunteers are working on NE 83rd Street in Hope Crossing. They’re touching up interior paint and hanging cabinets. The countertops are also being installed today. This house is our solar house for 2008.
Wednesday - January 23, 2008
Tim and Natalie’s house on NE 11th Street is in the final phase of completion. Today the carpet will be installed. Dedication is scheduled for this Friday, January 25th at 2:00 PM. This house is a little different from most of our previous houses in that it has nine foot ceilings and tile floors in the kitchen, hall, and dining room. This has been done to more closely match the houses in the neighborhood.
Work continues at NE 83rd Street. Last Thursday volunteers from the Oklahoma City Firefighters Academy hung the sheetrock and over the weekend it was taped and textured. Interior paint is going on today. This is the first house that Jay from our staff has been in charge as Construction Superintendent. Good job Jay!
We now have 6 permits that will allow us to start the first homes of Phase II in our Hope Crossing development. Aaron anticipates stems, ground plumbing and slabs in the next 10 days and framing will start on Saturday February 9th.
Tuesday - January 22, 2008
On Saturday, volunteers finished landscaping NE 11th street and worked through some of the punch-list items. Staff Carpenters finished decking the roof on Kenyon Drive and is working on the cornice. We’ll soon be recruiting volunteers to work with us on Tuesdays through Fridays on our 2008 houses which should begin to be framed in two weeks or so.
Saturday - January 19, 2008
Welcome to the inaugural posting of Rusty’s Blog. I’m Rusty and I’ll tell you about the day-to-day construction activities of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Today, we’re working on houses at NE 11th Street, NE 83rd Street, Kenyon Drive and SE 49th Street all in Oklahoma City. Two of the houses are in the final stages of construction and the other two are enclosed and are ready for brick and interior finishing. We’ve had volunteers this week from the OKC Firefighters Academy, Harmony Church in Choctaw and the Mid-Del Mentoring Program. Thanks to each of you. We couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers.