Indianapolis-Habitat for Humanity

March 30, 2013

Indianapolis, IN

A strange silence filled the air as the Indy's gathered in the kitchen early this morning. By the end of the week, our 8 a.m. routine felt as natural as the work we completed each day, with building exhaustion and sore muscles becoming increasingly prevalent. We finished our breakfast and packed our lunches in record time, eager to get to the build site for our last day. We completed flooring systems for three houses in the previous two days at the site, so today's focus was on "decking" using OSB, or oriented strand board, on one of the houses. These are the boards directly beneath the carpet or tile in a house. Pete, a Tiger, led the majority of the build, calling for members wielding nail and glue guns every so often. By noon, we had finished decking one house, using only 13 tubes of glue and roughly 500 nails in the process.

The Habitat for Humanity leaders decided to reward such an accomplishment (or just got tired of listening to our constant tone-deaf singing) by releasing us two hours early, though we were sad to say our goodbyes to the strangers turned friends turned family. Relishing the chance for some extra naptime, the majority of us quickly fell asleep in the lounge after scanning the channels for Criminal Minds and finding that our new afternoon favorite was nowhere to be found yet again. The beautiful weather gave us an opportunity to do some more outdoor exploring, so we ventured to the famous Canal Walk, lined by museums and statues. A few of our members almost got run over by impatient bicyclists, while others (i.e. Jane) spent time talking to ducks along the way.

Famished from the day's journey, a half-hour drive to reportedly the best hibachi grill in the city seemed an impossible but worthwhile feat. Unfortunately, the "hibachi grill" turned out to be just like any other normal restaurant, differentiated only by the Japanese decorations hanging from the ceiling. Disappointed, we decided to bounce and hit up an all-you-can-eat Mongolian restaurant just down the street instead. Not only did eating at the Mongolian chain ruin our Indy local restaurant streak, but it also reaped some sweet rewards (and we aren't just talking about the food). One of our members inadvertently flirted her number into a worker's phone, which provided enough entertainment to last us the half-hour car ride back to Benedict Inn and a 20-minute car ride to and through Dairy Queen. Even two hours later, we're still laughing about it.

Even that couldn't top the group reflections at the end of the night, however. These gave us a chance to discuss our experience with Habitat for Humanity and ASB. Nikki was shocked by the communities that surrounded the build sites, which made her feel very fortunate to have a caring family and safe home environment. Jessica enjoyed the teamwork aspect of the week, relying on others to help each other through the building process. Tucker couldn't believe how quickly we bonded as a group and how comfortable we are with each other after just a short week together. Hayley was proud to be able to make a difference in one week, finding it so meaningful to be able to build a house that a family will be living in. Liz learned a lot from the Habitat for Humanity leaders, who were so willing to teach us and walk us through the process, no matter how tedious the task. Raean was glad that we could all work as a team and volunteer our time for the better. Cody liked sharing project sites with members, as compared to previous trips in which members were split up amongst tasks. Kim never thought that a trip could mean so much, but truly loved the time spent in Indianapolis and with the Habitat family. The trip really made the location, rather than the location being the focus of the trip. Dalton got to bond with a few Tigers throughout the week and coined the term, "Ladies, please." Jane was excited to serve the community, and enjoyed the time spent with everyone, even if it was simply falling asleep after a few too many episodes of Criminal Minds. Steph didn't foresee such a strong bond with the group and can even point out that we're all so different, but similar at the same time. [EX: We all wanted to get different Blizzards, but all wanted to get ice cream.] Allie contrasted her experience from this year to her experience from last year, noting more of an accomplished feeling. She also reflected on her time as a leader as a time for learning and growing. Overall, there was just so much that we gained from this experience. While we began the week with a goal to serve the growing community, we ended the week with a feeling of growth within ourselves.