Knoxville - Habitat

 Day 6 - Thursday May 31

Today, we went to the ReStore at 9 to help reorganize the store floor and clean the items that were for sale. Another project we had was to tear down the display area for the doors because it was a dangerous setup. We tore it down and changed the orientation of the doors from leaning against the sides to laying on the floor so that customers won't hurt themselves looking through the doors. We ate our sack lunches at the ReStore with Julie. After lunch we loaded some more things onto the trucks while others of us wrote thank you notes to those who have donated materials to the ReStore. We also finished up putting the wheels on the portable shelves we made the other day. 

At 4 we finished up at the ReStore and went back to the Habitat office. We had the opportunity to sit in on a budget class with Marsha and Darla. At Habitat, when a person applies to become a homeowner they must put in 500 hours of sweat equity over a year, and one way to get these hours is through the classes. There are classes for construction, budgeting, design, and other things important for homeowners. At the budget class we watched as Marsha, the tutor, went through the weekly budgets with the homeowners, who are now writing down every single transaction they make and keeping a receipt for them. A few of the homeowners talked to us about the process of getting a Habitat home, which one woman said was very time consuming. It can be difficult for the future homeowners to fit in these classes along with a full time job and possibly children. We were impressed by how dedicated these people are to putting their lives together and learning the skills they need to own a home. Those were some skills that we tend to take for granted because our budgets aren't always as tight as theirs.

For dinner we went to Soccer Taco on the Market Square, which was great. Then we went back to the house and played poker with Ryan until the kids had to go to bed. We all went upstairs to the great room we're staying in and socialized. We also reflected on our day. We can't believe that tomorrow is our last day working with Habitat for Humanity! We've become really close with the Habitat staff and we'll all have a hard time saying goodbye.