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Green house-building event honors Earth Day
BRANDYWINE, W.Va. - Beginning April 19, Potomac Highlands Partnership Housing, a covenant partner of The Fuller Center for Housing, and Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity, will host a one-week event in Pendleton County to demonstrate green building techniques in conjunction with the worldwide celebration of Earth Day on April 22. During the week, volunteers will "blitz build" an entire new house for one deserving family and will renovate the dilapidated trailer of an elderly disabled homeowner, both utilizing green building techniques and materials.
The event - The Millard & Linda Fuller Earth Day Blitz Build - honors Millard and Linda Fuller, who co-founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976 and co-founded The Fuller Center for Housing in 2005. Both organizations help needy families to build and own decent, affordable homes through no-interest mortgages and the help of millions of volunteers. Together, these two housing ministries have provided shelter for more than one million people in the U.S. and close to 100 other countries.
Between 150 and 200 volunteers will build on the sites with Millard and Linda Fuller throughout the week, including a 12-member missions group who will travel from White Plains, N.Y., Presbyterian Church. Fifty-nine volunteers from St. Mark's Catholic Church will return from Burlington, Vt.. Local volunteer groups include the Habitat campus chapter and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity of James Madison University and U.S. Navy Seabees from Sugar Grove Naval Base.
Trish Simmons and her children Brittnay, 12 and Wesley, 9 live in a crowded, unhealthy trailer built in 1974. Simmons lost her husband in a tragic house firein 2004 and has struggled to support her kids on a limited income. The children have suffered health problems caused by their current damp and moldy living conditions and are embarrassed to invite their friends to visit. On April 26, they will move into a brand new, energy-efficient home in Brandywine, where Simmons will assume a low-cost, no-interest mortgage she can afford and become a homeowner.
Juanita Bennett is an elderly, disabled woman who lives in Circleville. Her family home was destroyed by floods in 1981, and she lives in a dilapidated trailer on her family's property. Bennett attended school through the fourth grade and cannot work; her sole means of support is Supplemental Security Income. Seth Kujat of Leap of Faith will supervise a major renovation of Bennett's trailer to help reduce her utility bills and provide a cheery, safe home. The renovation will allow her to remain in the home she owns, on her own land, instead of moving to a nursing home.
Both the construction and the renovation are being done to lower the carbon footprint of the homeowners and to increase the longterm affordability of the homes by lowering energy and maintenance costs. The components of the new house are environmentally friendly and energy efficient and include features such as in-floor hydronic radiant heating. The materials and techniques, however, are affordable and available to anyone. Says Michelle Connor, the Blitz Build coordinator, "We used off-theshelf technologies to show people that going green is doable."
The Millard & Linda Fuller Earth Day Blitz Build will engage area residents with events at Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, including a full ensemble harp recital by Shenandoah Valley artists, and a book signing and preaching by Millard Fuller. The Fullers will attend a Habitat Homecoming with existing Habitat homeowners, will spend an evening with the volunteers and lead religious devotions at Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia; they will also attend a community celebration at Calvary Lutheran Church near Sugar Grove Navy Base. On April 22, The Climate Project will hold a public presentation in the evening at Pendleton County High School.
On Friday, April 25, an Earth Day Fair will be held at the build site followed by the House Dedication Ceremony, and blower door testing of the newly constructed house. A representative of the West Virginia Department of Energy will encourage Mountaineers to go green during the day's events.
A detailed schedule for the entire week can be found at www. earthdayblitzbuild.org/agenda.
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