The Blitz Is Back Habitat For Humanity

Habitat for Humanity's Blitz program gives new meaning to the word. Blitz to those of us that lived during World War II means "rapid destruction." Blitz to Habitat for Humanity means "rapid construction.

" Jimmy Carter swings a hammer for Habitat. So can you!.I've watched with interest the fact that the Twin Falls affiliate of Habitat for Humanity is building a home in our town for Marco and Angela Oviedo and their seven children. The ground breaking for the Oviedo's five-bedroom home was on April 20, 2006.

I knew that the Twin Falls affiliate of Habitat was coming to our town to build a house and I was very excited about it. On Sunday, on my way to church, I saw that a zillion people were working on the house. There were so many volunteers, the construction site looked like an ant hill.

Yesterday I stopped by to talk with the folks doing the building and I learned that the house will be finished by the end of the week, which will be June 10, 2006. (To read about Habitat for Humanity go to http://www.habitat.

org/ For the Twin Falls or Magic Valley affiliate go to http://www.habitat.org/script/link.asp?url=local%2Ehabitat%2Eorg%2Fmagicvalley).Linda Fleming is the Administrative Assistant for the Twin Falls or Magic Valley affiliate.

She told me that the home was being built as part of a national program known as Blitz. When she said the home would be finished by the end of the week I about flipped. They had hardly let the concrete set when they put in the subflooring starting last weekend (today is only Tuesday).Yesterday, while I watched, they were hoisting the roof trusses with a crane.

There were so many workers I thought that a guy talking on his cell phone was going to get knocked to the ground. He ducked a flying truss admirably. (For a list of construction terms go to http://www.soundhome.com/glossary.

shtml#a).The Oviedo Family home has over 60 sponsors donating time, materials, labor, and equipment. I worked on four Habitat homes in Payson, Arizona where I learned that contractors and business people are more than happy to donate to the building of a home for a family that needs a boost.Building a home the slow way like we did in Arizona was a labor of love, much of the word being done by a bunch of old men that had nothing else to do. Yesterday, I watched the contractors do their thing and I wondered Is there room for an old man somewhere in that Blitz Program? Maybe so, maybe no.

Well, I can always give money. .President Jimmy Carter has worked on hundreds of homes to give shelter to those who are willing to do part of the work and can make the modest interest-free payments. Marco and Angela are very excited to be part of the project. They have accumulated almost all of their Sweat Equity of 500 hours by working on other Habitat projects as well as on their new home. Their seven kids are going to be very excited this weekend when they get the keys to the front door.

When I talked to Marco and Angela yesterday, there was a sparkle in their eyes.Wow!.That is the exciting thing about Habitat. You can give some time, money, materials, or labor and know that it will be appreciated and helpful to the families that need decent housing.I can't do heavy physical labor since I have from my last heart surgery a weak area in my chest wall that is easily herniated. But I can help to some extent if I can get in there edgewise.

Please donate to Habitat for Humanity. Go to the national site to find your local affiliate. Go to their page and make a donation.In Payson, AZ, the affiliate had a great spaghetti dinner every year. The meatballs were the size of tennis balls.

That's where I usually gave my donation.And the desserts!.Wow again!.copyright ©2006 John T. Jones, Ph.D.

By: John T Jones, Ph.D.