Eighty volunteers from five states came to
Pontotoc, Miss., the middle of September 2002 to work with
Glenmary Brother Joe Steen on a Habitat for Humanity housing
blitz. They built two houses in one week. Brother Joe is
the director of the Pontotoc County Habitat for Humanity
chapter which also serves nearby Union County.
“A blitz house takes a week to build,”
Brother Joe says, “but a year to prepare for.”
And preparation was key to the success of
the blitz. Getting volunteers, raising funds, buying materials
and organizing schedules were just some of the things Brother
Joe and the local Methodist minister, Rev. Jeff Pruitt,
worried about this past year.
“I’ve worked on a couple other blitz
projects locally,” says Bob Knueven, recently retired
treasurer of Glenmary, “but I’ve never seen one
run this smoothly or be so organized—and that’s
in large part because of Brother Joe. He had everything
there and there were a couple extra folks on hand to supervise.
They all were really great guys to work with.”
Bob and his cousin Ron Knueven traveled to
Mississippi for the blitz along with Roy Kaiser and his
brother Ted. All from Cincinnati, the men arrived in the
Mississippi heat with their hand tools, ready to work.
The house they were working on was 95 percent
complete in five days. “We were supposed to be there
for a week, but everything was so well organized, we got
done early,” says Roy. And there was definitely no
standing around on the site. “Everyone was always moving
and always had something to do. We came home tired, but
enjoyed it all.”
“It was a really wonderful trip,”
Roy continued. “Working with the future homeowner—a
single mom and her two kids—was also a plus.”
Habitat for Humanity is an international,
ecumenical organization committed to providing simple, decent,
affordable housing for low-income families who become partners
in building their homes. Habitat houses are sold to partner
families at no profit, financed with affordable, no-interest
loans. The partner-family invests hundred of hours of “sweat
equity” in each house.
Brother Joe, a master carpenter, has worked
with Habitat in Mississippi for about five years building
12 houses so far for low-income folks. Before coming to
Mississippi, he worked with People’s Self-Help Housing,
a non-profit home building program established by Glenmary
in Vanceburg, Ky.
“Habitat dovetails perfectly with Glenmary’s
ministry,” Brother Joe says. “Working with the
Habitat program is a way to work ecumenically with the other
folks in the county.”
His work is also a form of evangelization
and outreach. Brother Joe is very well known in the county
because of his Habitat work and is readily associated with
the Catholic Church. For those in the county unfamiliar
with Catholicism, Brother Joe becomes their link to the
local church and the services offered.
When the volunteers from Cincinnati arrived
at the Pontotoc construction site, they found a slab poured
and utilities roughed in. Surrounding the slab were the
building materials, organized so that what they needed first
to build the approximately 1,000 square foot, three-bedroom
house was closest to the house. As the days passed, they
worked their way out of the circle of materials so the last
things left to use were for the roof.
“That was so very well planned out,”
Bob says. “It cut down on carrying materials and we
weren’t tripping or falling over materials.” It
also sped up the workflow.
Brother Joe isn’t sitting back, resting
on his laurels after this successful blitz. He is currently
working on two more houses, looking at ways to raise funds
and volunteers for coming projects including next year’s
blitz.
One thing is certain. A carload of volunteers
from Cincinnati will once again travel to northeast Mississippi
next September. “I’ve got my reservation in,”
Bob says. Roy agrees, saying he is trying to recruit some
other volunteers to help out.
“It’s a great way to spend a week,”
Bob says. “We work hard, but we enjoyed every moment.
