Volunteer labor is making a reality out of a dream long held by Baptists in Southside Virginia to build a home for adults with developmental disabilities. Now the Virginia Baptist Children's Home and Family Services facility is well on its way.
By Mark Early
Jubilant laughter punctuated by the smack of hammer strokes spills through the morning sunshine. The laughter and hammering is produced by a group of Virginia Tech students who chose to spend their spring break not beside the ocean, but on the roof of a new home for adults with developmental disabilities being built next door to Heritage Baptist Church in Farmville.
Rather than the relaxing sound of ocean waves, these young men and women preferred the sandpaper scratch of shingles sliding into place.
As part of Virginia Tech's Baptist Student Union missions outreach, the group wanted to do something meaningful with their time away from classrooms and research.
Anne Davidson, an intern with the BSU, called the Virginia Baptist Mission Board searching for a project. Davidson was directed to the Virginia Baptist Children's Home and Family Services, which put her in contact with Farmville's Hazel Harrison, a trustee of the Children's Home and one of the organizers in the effort to bring a home for adults with developmental disabilities to the Southside area.
Davidson discovered what many associated with the project already knew. Hazel Harrison has a gift for logistics.
“As soon I started talking to Hazel, she really got the ball rolling as far as working out the week, getting us a foreman and figuring out in January how far along they'd be in March when we could come,” said Davidson.
The Southside Home is a vital ministry project jointly sponsored by the local Southside Special Needs Committee and the Children's Home Developmental Disabilities Ministry. The Southside Home, which will provide long-term group home care for adults as well as short-term respite care, is the twelfth such home operated by the Children's Home. The students' involvement in the project is only one example of the tremendous amount of cooperation Harrison and the rest of the committee have been able to generate from the surrounding business and church communities.
“At least 15 local businesses have contributed goods and services to the home. We have had to slow down our general contractor so we can accommodate all the volunteer labor that church groups want to provide. The only difficulty has been that volunteers want to know exactly what they're going to be doing and when, and I can't tell them. I have to guess,” said Harrison.
Judging by the construction's rapid progress, Harrison's guesses have been pretty good. Ground was broken for the 4,800-square-foot residence on Sept. 26. A general contractor was hired to perform most the larger tasks, such as pouring the foundation and raising the walls and rafters. Now, thanks to the labor contributed by Davidson and her fellow Virginia Tech students, the house was completely under roof by March 9.
“The neat thing about construction-type mission trips is you really get to be the hands and feet of Christ. You get to use your skills and your hands toward tangibly helping other people,” said Davidson, who brought 10 other students with her to Farmville.
Amy Porter, a graduate student in education, agrees.
“This is my last spring break. Once I'm in the real world, I won't have opportunities to take off for a week and go on mission trips so I decided to use my last one for something good. I like construction work and haven't done it in a while. Sometimes I just like to use the hands God has given me to serve in that manner,” said Porter.
With the shingles on and the windows going in, Harrison and her construction partners are now turning their attention to bricking the house. Once again, the search for volunteers begins.
“It's going to cost $22,000 just to lay the brick on this house. If I can find a retired bricklayer who would be willing to come and lay the brick for less than that, that would be our greatest need. Anyone who wants to come and help us with this part of the project would be welcome,” said Harrison.
With the shingling well-underway, Davidson paused for a moment near the house's ridgeline to survey her work crew. While Davidson has previous roofing experience thanks to a construction trip to the Bahamas to provide hurricane disaster relief, many of her co-workers were new to construction. She offers the same advice to other groups contemplating assisting Harrison and the Special Needs Committee that she shared with her friends.
“I'm not athletic or super-coordinated. I never thought I'd be coordinating construction mission trips, but it's not nearly as hard as people envision. If you have the patience and flexibility to learn and the willingness to hammer, we can put you to work on a trip like this.”
Harrison hopes the recent level of assistance will continue. Thus far the town of Farmville has been extremely helpful and generous in assisting with the procedures in acquiring the necessary licenses and permits.
Hampden-Sydney College fraternities as well as Longwood University students have supplied labor for various stages of the construction. Over 300 people have turned out for a Walk-A-Thon event for the past three years. This year an anonymous donor has offered a $10,000 donation if the Southside Walk-A-Thon can raise at least that much in contributions.
With the Special Needs Committee aiming for a Jan. 1, 2006 opening, additional funding and labor is welcome. Any individual or group that would like to lend their support to the Southside Home project is encouraged to contact Harrison at (434) 392-9066.
Special to the Herald
Mark Early is assistant director of communications for the Children's Home.