VALENCIA COUNTY AFFILIATE, BELEN (LOS LUNAS), NM
MARCH 22 – APRIL 2, 2003

CORBETT AND CONNIE POOL, F140306	BUILD TEAM LEADERS
FRED AND RONDA O’DONNELL, F293801	ASST. BUILD TEAM LEADERS
DAVID AND NANCY JO FRIDLINE, F172901	ASST. BUILD TEAM LEADERS

We had originally planned to have 15 coaches participate in the build. On the sign-up date of December 13, 2003, we filled the build within one hour and received another eight who went on the waiting list. After our visit to the affiliate on January 12, 2004, we determined that the parking situation would only support 10 to 12 coaches. Therefore, we notified those on the waiting list that we would not replace any cancellations. We had 11 coaches (22 people) participate in the build with 4 cancellations. One coach only participated for the first week and the International Area Vice President, Max Durbin and his wife, Joanne, (chapter members) made a chapter visit and spent three days at the build.

The first week of the build, we worked six days to accommodate the college student’s schedule. The second week we worked 4 days for a total of 10 days. The build team worked for a total of 1,550 hours. Only one member was a non-builder, but proved invaluable in assisting the affiliate in providing snacks and lunches for 100 people during the first week.

The welcome gathering was hosted by the Build Team because the Affiliate was preoccupied arranging the housing requirements for the 74 college students, from four universities (including The Air Force Academy (12), Western Washington University (23), Illinois North Central College (15) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (24) participating in March Madness during our first week. All build team members had reviewed the safety guidelines and the affiliate gave a safety lecture our first day.

The affiliate had eight houses in various stages of construction for our build team and the college students to work on. One house was being readied for dedication at the end of the first week, two houses were ready for finish electric, one house was ready for sheetrock, one required rough-in plumbing before sheetrock, one house had the exterior and interior walls framed but had not been squared, one house had exterior walls and some interior walls and the last house was a blank foundation. The affiliate wanted the last three houses ready to be shingled at the end of our two weeks. We missed the goal on one house because the affiliate was short four pieces of roof sheathing.

We divided the build team into five teams that were spread over the eight houses based on past experiences. One team worked electrical, another did sheetrock, and a team was assigned to each of the houses to be framed and roofed. We also formed sub-teams, as required, to do punch lists and plumbing. We assigned the 74 students among the teams, with most being assigned to framing and a few to sheetrock, and plumbing and building fences under the supervision of the affiliate. The main duties of the build team for the first week was to assign, instruct, and supervise the students. The students were eager to work and as the days progressed, their expertise improved and it became a job to keep up with them. They were also encouraged to move from team to team to participate in different phases of construction and to learn more skills. The second week, we missed the strong, eager workers as we began sheathing the roofs on the two final houses requiring it.

We parked in the neighborhood that is being developed (130 homes when finished) by the affiliate. The affiliate had future building sites leveled and compacted for our parking. They had the electric pulled to five distributions poles with 20amp GFCI outlets. Temporary water lines were laid to the area of each pole. We were allowed to drip gray water into individual holes we dug in the sand next to a coach. The affiliate arranged for two port-a-potties to be placed near our coaches and scheduled one onsite dump for our coaches halfway through the build.

We had one on-sight supervisor for construction and one for plumbing. The assistant affiliate director was also present on the jobsite most of the first week. The overall supervisor (construction) was very helpful and knowledgeable on the various stages of construction.

It would have been helpful if the affiliate could have divided and scheduled the college students for both weeks. It was still a wonderful experience enjoyed by all.

We were very fortunate to have only minor scraps and bruises normal for people our age working at construction. Only one member hit his finger with a hammer and did it as we were securing the build site on the last day of the build.

The highlight of the build was the dinner we served to the college students. Nancy Jo Fridline, F172901, planned and prepared food to feed 96 people. The college students arrived at our coaches at 6 p.m. and last ones left after 9 p.m. We had a large campfire where we all gathered for our meal. After dinner, Maury Bois, F302549, played his guitar as the students sang. Many of the build team members opened their coaches for tours. The students made smores over the campfire and shot off fire works. The youngest around the campfire was 19 and the oldest was 75. It was great to see each group enjoy the company of the other group. It was also wonderful to receive phone calls at 03:33a.m. from some of the students who wanted to let us know they had made it back to college safely.

Attached:
Financial Report (original was audited)
List of Build Team Members