Guin, AL SEC Compact - Habitat for Humanity (Post 3)

Hey everyone,

Today was our first official work day at the site. 8:00 AM came early as we packed our lunches , and headed on our way. As soon as we got there, we got right into the hang of things and started working on different tasks that we were told to do by Mary and Greg. We spent time raking to prepare for the concrete to be poured, nailing blue insulation boards to the wall, measuring, sawing, and making ourselves useful in whatever way was necessary. Today was a great day because we all got the opportunity to do things that challenged us. For example, Blake learned how to saw wood and was really good at it, even though she wasn’t sure of her sawing capabilities before today. A lot of us had a varying level of fear of highs that we tackled through climbing up the ladders to nail insulation to the wall, trusting that our friends down below spotting us would be able to catch us if we fell, which luckily wasn’t an issue! A challenge of the day ended up being the weather, as in the weeks before our trip the forecast for Marion County had been in the 50’s and 60’s, but this morning we were all reminded of our need to bring layers as the wind made the morning quite cold. What started as a really cold morning ended up being a beautiful afternoon, some of us (Dalton, Christian) even got sunburns later in the afternoon, with some pretty awesome tan lines. But as Missouri residents, most of us were well adapted to the quick change in weather as it happens all too often back home!

We ended the day feeling very accomplished, and even a bit sore from all of the heavy lifting that we did. It was really cool to see all of our work come together and be able to see each accomplishment, no matter how big or small it was, come to life in the building. Mary and Greg were awesome at providing guidance and a helping hand whenever we needed it. At the end of the day, we all piled back into the cars and came back to the camp for an amazing dinner graciously provided by Joan Watkins, a Habitat Board Member. We had the best ham, green beans, rolls, and of course: sweet tea. We hung out together as a group all night getting to know each other and now have been working on our bird houses for the past few hours, led by the artistic genius, Mary Cate! They’re coming along really well and we all can’t wait to see them when they are finished.

Tomorrow is going to be another great day at the site, so if you’re interested in seeing some pictures from the site and tweets from our team members, follow us at @MAB_SEC ! We can’t wait for the rest of the week and all it has in store for us.