The group woke up early this morning and piled into our van to travel to the Central Oklahoma
Habitat for Humanity headquarters. We were greeted by Rick, one of the directors of the
program, who explained the mission of Habitat for Humanity, the specific goals of the Oklahoma
City branch, and the projects we would be working on during our time in Oklahoma City. On
our way to the construction site, we passed directly through neighborhoods that were affected by
the devastating tornados last summer. I don’t think I have ever seen such destruction in person.
To see firsthand that the homes, schools, and workplaces of an entire community could be so
brutally destroyed was very powerful to witness. I think our group was able to gain some
perspective regarding the magnitude of this natural disaster. We arrived at the house we would
be working on, and we were greeted by Mitch, who would serve as the site’s leader for the day.
He began by giving all of us the task of securing the support beams for the roof by nailing them
into the metal plates at the end of each beam. What seemed like a simple task soon turned into a
near impossible feat. The difficulty of forcing the nails through the metal plates accompanied by
the group’s clear lack of hammering experience made for an interesting morning. After our
lunch break, we all broke off into groups of two or three to work on separate jobs. I worked with
Nicole on cutting and nailing up the tarp around a side of the house. Following that, we began to
remove nails from the two-by-fours that had been used as support beams. For the rest of the
afternoon, I teamed up with Nicole and Dani to clean up the construction site, which included
sweeping, discarding wood scraps, and putting tools back into the van. Today was really fun,
and I’m exciting to continue with our volunteer work over the coming days. I’m also really
looking forward to bonding more and more with my fellow group members throughout the rest
of the week.
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