This post is featured on the SC2SC Team Blog, just click on the pencil.
Without curtains, the windows at the Silt Community Center were
bare. I only noticed this detail because the team has slept in late enough for
the sunlight to spill over our sleeping bags and faces. This is a build day, so
we are able to sleep later than our ride days. The team gears up, eats cereals
and mini bagels for breakfast, and begins our six-block walk over to the
Habitat for Humanity construction site.
Our team was immediately impressed by the Roaring Fork
Valley Habitat for Humanity chapter. Upon our arrival, we see a white board
detailing the five projects for the day, how many people and what kinds of
tools are required for each project. The sign-in table had small piles of
safety and construction gear for each of us: a hard hat, a label maker for
putting our names on our hard hats, construction pencils, safety glasses,
squares, tape measures, knives, hammers, and work aprons to hold onto all of our
stuff. The construction site manager, Rick, is very experienced and said that
some time after building his 100th house, he lost count of how many
he’s constructed. We were also explained that this Habitat chapter aspires to
build the best and most sustainable homes. Today’s site was a duplex home that
will be certified LEED Silver for its low impact on the environment.
I worked with Lacy, Eliza, Chris, and Travis on the framing
of the first floor. Other riders worked on framing the second floor, decking,
and insulating the walls. For the first time on a build site, we used nail
guns. Once I got over the initial nervousness of using such a dangerous tool,
we all began to enjoy how quickly our project was moving along. By lunch time,
we had completed two frames!
At lunch we had many guests. The president of the Roaring
Fork Valley Habitat told us all about the chapter. This Habitat chapter spans ninety
miles of territory. Particularly in the community of Silt is there a great need
for affordable housing, because they endured a difficult recession in the early
1990’s as well as 2008. Geneva, the volunteer coordinator, not only helped us
with arranging meals, but also invited more community members to the lunch. We
met two partner families who love their Habitat homes, and one welcomed us to
his home see what a Habitat “finished product” looks like. Elaina, Sarah, Josh,
Austin, and Kevin then presented to the community of Silt about Bike &
Build, explaining the nonprofit’s history, distribution of funds, and what
riders do before and during their Bike & Build summer. As Sarah said in the
presentation, “we all enjoy build days because they remind us of our purpose
for riding.”
But today wasn’t only about building. In just over a week is
our own Bike & Build prom! The guys drew names of girls out of a hat weeks
ago, but there were many date proposals today. JD proposed to Nyx by writing a
huge “Prom?” in chalk in the host site parking lot. At the build site, Curtis
printed on the label maker, “Will you go to prom with me?” and placed it on his
hard hat for Cassie to see. Chris nailed some scrap pieces of wood together to
spell “Prom?” and propped the letters on top of the house for Hawa.
The work day ended with ice cream, and then Geneva brought us
over to the community pool for some swimming. We had a blast splashing,
cannonballing off the diving board, and going down the water slide. Geneva then
gave us pizza for dinner. With the next stretch of riding days coming up,
riders are spending the evening sleeping or tuning up their bicycles.
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